Evolution
by BansheeGirl
Summary: Alternate Reality... our favourite Pokémon characters are attending high school, but not without a little romance and a lotta twists involved! Mostly Rocketshipping but Pokeshipping involved as well.
1. Chapter One

**:Evolution:**

**Written by BansheeGirl**

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

**A/N:** Hey everyone! I'm back again, this time with an alternate reality fic! Yup, our fave characters from pokémon are attending high school – and what's high school without a bit of romance? There's a couple changes I've made from the show, as you'll discover in the first few paragraphs, but I think they work well with the story. Ages of some of the characters are also different, but this is just so everyone is relatively around the same age and can interact more realistically.

Read on, and enjoy! Oh, and don't forget to review once you've finished!

**Ages:**

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

* * *

**  
:Evolution:**

"Come on, we haven't got all day!" Jessie hollered to someone unseen, as she stood by the front door. She tapped her foot angrily, annoyed that her cousin was once again late getting ready for school. She had thought perhaps the new semester would bring about a change in Ash, but alas, on the first day back they had only just made it within the school doors when the first bell sounded. Now, on the third morning of the new school semester, it didn't look like things were going to be much different.

Jessie watched as Ash dashed out of his bedroom, still pulling on his school blazer and trying to put his socks on at the same time. Not surprisingly, he stumbled down the stairs in his rush, landing in a messy heap at the bottom.

"Quick Ash, this is no time to be lying around," Ash's mother appeared from out of the kitchen, pulling him up and shoving two pieces of toast into his hands. Delia swiftly and expertly fixed Ash's light blue tie around his neck, and folded his collar over. She went to tuck her son's shirt in, but her hands were abruptly slapped away.

"Mum!" Ash cried.

"Okay, okay!" Delia held her hands up. "But I'm not letting you leave this house without you tucking your shirt in young man."

Ash grumbled, held his remaining piece of toast in his mouth and tucked his white shirt into his navy-blue trousers. "There, happy?" He said, removing the slice of toast from his mouth and scooping up his schoolbag from the floor.

Delia smiled. "Well, I would have liked you to at least brush your hair..." she said, eyeing Ash's spiky black mess of tresses, "...but I suppose you'll have to do."

Ash let out a loud sigh, and bent over to kiss his mother on the cheek. "Bye mum."

Jessie laughed, the bout between mother and son having vanquished any trace of annoyance she had for Ash, and kissed her aunt as well. "See you tonight aunty Delia."

"See you later kids," she replied, and Ash and Jessie quickly disappeared out the front door.

"Well, it was nice of you to finally decide to wake up this morning," Jessie prompted, as the two headed out the front gate and onto the sidewalk.

Ash shovelled the last of his toast into his mouth, and leered up at Jessie. "...I'm sure you'll be able to forgive me, dearest cousin."

"Oh, I don't know about that," the crimson-haired girl growled, and pulled Ash in for a noogie.

Ash wailed, trying to free himself from the deadly head-scruff. He finally pushed away, and rubbed his sore skull. "Hey... you messed up my hair!" The boy mock-pouted.

Jessie laughed, and Ash did too. The girl was happy to have such a good relationship with her cousin. He was in all ways like a brother to her, as was Delia like a mother. Ash's dad, Ian, constituted for the rest of her family, yet as a successful pokémon trainer, he was only home for a few months of the year.

Jessie's mother had fallen pregnant with her at the young age of eighteen. Jessie had never known her father – he had left her mother when he found out that she was with child. Miyamoto had raised Jessie on her own until a tragic car accident claimed her life. Jessie was all but seven. Miyamoto's sister, Delia, and her husband, had offered to become Jessie's guardians, and Jessie had lived with the Ketchum family ever since.

Jessie brushed the memory of her mother away, as the cousins pressed on towards Spire City High School. She tended to try not to think about her mother and father too much, as the thoughts always made her depressed. Jessie hardly ever told anyone either – she liked to keep things like that very personal. Everyone usually assumed that Ash was her actual brother anyway, and Delia and Ian her biological parents, especially since Jessie had chosen to take up 'Ketchum' as her surname.

Jessie didn't really have to worry about people prying into her life anyway. She only had a few people that she would consider as friends at school, and she never projected herself to be the public attention of everyone. Jessie didn't believe in trying to be someone else just to please or impress other people. If someone wanted to be friends with her, they had to accept her for who she was and nothing less. It wasn't that Jessie was shy or quiet or anything – she would follow her opinions to the end and could have some serious attitude at times. She just didn't go out of her way to be noticed, and would by no means immediately hand over her trust to any passing stranger.

"Jessie... have you ever had a crush on someone... but have been too scared to tell them?" Ash's voice snapped Jessie out of her reverie. She looked down at her cousin, a slight smirk creeping onto her face.

"So... who's the lucky girl?" She drawled in a honeyed tone. Ash's face was more than a little red.

He sighed and continued walking with his hands up behind his head. "Her name's Misty... I had a crush on her all last semester, but she had a boyfriend. But they broke up over the holidays, and now I really want to ask her out. But I get nervous on the rare occasions when I just talk to her! How am I going to ask her out!"

Jessie smiled, amused at this instance of young, innocent love. Jessie herself had never really had many romantic relationships before, and the two or three that she had been in all ended up in the gutter: the other half always too insensitive, too domineering or too arrogant. In any case, they had all left her hurt and heartbroken. She was now very cautious in even considering someone to be her boyfriend. In view of this, Jessie had not been in a relationship for almost a year.

"I think you should just go for it. If you're worried that she'll turn you down, perhaps you could suggest just going to the movies or the arcade together one afternoon after school? That way she can find out what a great guy you are and then won't be able to resist when you actually ask her out." Jessie advised.

"Yeah, but then I still have the problem of asking her to go to the arcade or movies with me," Ash droned, obviously distraught with the situation.

As the two teenagers approached the school gates, Jessie pulled her cousin in for a half-hug. "Hey, everything will be fine, okay?" She looked Ash in the eyes. "For all you know, she's probably stressing out over the same thing. You'll be doing her a favour by asking her out first."

Ash looked a little more heartened, and smiled resignedly. "Thanks."

Jessie let go of him, and smiled back. "No problems. I'll see you after school."

"Yep, see you then," Ash replied, half-waving as he disappeared across the school grounds.

"Jessie!" Jessie turned see her best friend, Vanessa, calling from a bunch of trees on the other side of the school. Jessie jogged over to meet her.

"You're actually here before the bell today?" Vanessa queried, a tone of genuine surprise evident in her voice.

Jessie laughed, quite surprised herself. "I guess it just goes to show that miracles do happen." Vanessa gave a chuckle, and the two made their way up the steps into the school.

* * *

Jessie dropped her head into her hands, letting out a loud sigh of absolute frustration. It was fourth period of the day, and she was in English. For the last half hour the class had been discussing a controversial issue in a novel they were studying, and her and another of her classmates had been arguing over one particular point for most of that time. 

"Jessie, can't you understand that it wasn't Regina who made the decision to save Mary and Elise? If it weren't for Thomas' influence, then Regina would have left those two girls to die at the hands of Drake just like the rest of his slaves. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out," a boy sitting across the room sneered. His name was Julian, and ever since meeting him two days ago in her first English class of the semester, Jessie had decided that he was one of the most pompous people she had ever met.

She didn't answer him this time. It was useless fighting Julian - he was simply too narrow-minded to even contemplate agreeing with someone else's opinions.

"Actually Julian, chapter sixteen thoroughly illustrates that it was Regina who made the conscious choice to save Drake's slaves."

Jessie sat up, shocked to hear someone else's voice join the argument, and more over, to join on her side. She spun around to see who belonged to the smooth, deep voice.

"It is in this chapter where Regina realises just how evil Drake is, and where she decides to do something about it. She doesn't know what she is going to do yet, but she has obviously made the decision to take action. Thomas only influences her plan of action to save the slaves in a much later chapter," the boy continued, as Jessie took in his character. He had straight, lavender hair that fell down to frame his face, striking emerald eyes and tanned skin. There were thousands of students who attended Spire City High, so Jessie wouldn't have been surprised if she didn't recognise him. Yet he looked familiar to Jessie, if only a familiarity of perhaps seeing him passing in the school corridor. She had never shared a class with him before, which Jessie thought strange because she had already had four periods of English this week, and he had not been present in any of them.

Jessie turned her head to see Julian's reaction. She was stunned to see his face turned a deep shade of scarlet, and showing no sign of retaliation. He embarrassedly lowered his head and spun back around in his chair to face the front of the room. What? Julian was backing down from an argument? What was going on here? Jessie wondered just who this mysterious guy was.

"Thankyou James," their teacher, Ms. O'Brien started, "Your statement is in fact, correct. Regina does make the decision on her own, with no initial influence from anyone else. And with that, we'll conclude today's discussion. There are only a few more minutes now till the bell so I'll write up some homework on the board for you to copy down and complete before next class."

So... his name was James. Jessie pulled out a pen to begin writing down the words Ms. O'Brien was etching upon the blackboard. As she wrote, she couldn't help thinking about this new guy. Just who was he? There was something about him... Jessie couldn't quite put her finger on it. As she finished writing, Jessie turned her head to take another look at James. He was still writing, his hand moving in quick, fluid motions. Jessie spied a black, rectangular carry bag leaning against the bottom of his desk, and identified it as a laptop case. Well, that at least established that he was loaded – only the richest kids in school could afford those sorts of things.

As she looked back up at James she was surprised to see him staring straight back at her. He looked as equally surprised to have Jessie spot him watching her. But instead of turning away, James held her gaze. The two maintained the look until the bell sounded several seconds later, and Jessie snapped her head back to the front of the room. What was that? She silently chided herself for doing something so ridiculous, while collecting her books and other paraphernalia from her desk.

As she stood up and proceeded to exit the classroom, something suddenly came over Jessie. She quickly twirled around to steal one last glance at the enigmatic James. He was looking at her, and as he caught her eye, he smiled. Before turning back around, Jessie fleetingly returned the smile, and quickly departed the room.

* * *

The bell signalling the end of lunchtime rang throughout the school grounds. Jessie and Vanessa made their way back into the school from the quadrangle where they usually ate their lunch. 

"Great. I have two periods of Accounting next. God knows why I even picked the bloody subject. What do you have, Jess?"

Jessie didn't answer. She was staring ahead with a far off look in her eyes.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Vanessa waved her hand in front of Jessie's  
face.

Jessie blinked, suddenly brought back to reality. She shook her head and turned to Vanessa. "...Oh, uh... sorry." Vanessa frowned. "What's up with you? You've been spaced out all lunchtime."

Jessie sighed as they arrived at their lockers. "I don't know..." The truth was, she had been thinking about James from her English class. There was something about him... something different. She couldn't stop thinking about the way he held her gaze, with those sparkling, emerald eyes...

Jessie slammed her locker door hard. She had to stop thinking like this. Why was she letting herself get so preoccupied with this particular guy?

"So what classes do you have, now that you're back down to Earth?" Vanessa asked, as she shut her locker.

Jessie held her textbook up. "Double Biology. Not my favourite subject, but I guess it's not my least favourite either."

Vanessa laughed. "Well, have fun. I might see you after school."

"Yeah, okay Vanessa. Don't you forget to have fun either, will you!" Jessie smiled, as Vanessa waved before turning away to go to her class. Jessie did the same.

Jessie walked down the corridor, pressing through the tide of students going the other way and trying not to be swept along by the ones travelling in the same direction. Through the sea of navy-blue uniforms, Jessie finally found the door to her classroom – just one of the many science rooms in the school.

Jessie greeted her biology teacher – Mr Livingston, and seated herself in an empty chair towards the back of the room. Only about half of the students in the class had turned up so far, so Jessie opened up her books while they waited for the other kids to make an appearance. Slowly the seats started to fill up. Jessie began doodling on a spare sheet of paper in her folder – something she always did when she was bored.

"Okay class," Mr. Livingston said, shutting the door as the last student sat down at the desk next to Jessie. She looked sideways, and was completely shocked to see that that student was... James! James looked over as he set his belongings down at the table, and again a feeling of mutual surprise rested between the two. James, this time however, warmly smiled at her.

Jessie didn't return the gesture, but quickly turned back to the front in attempt to concentrate on what Mr. Livingston was saying. This was strange – she'd never met this person in her life, and now they shared two classes together? There were so many students at Spire City High, it was a rarity that the same people ever saw each other again in class once they had shared one already together. And Jessie felt weird that there seemed to already be some sort of connection between her and James – she hadn't even talked to him yet!

"I hope you all completed the background homework I set you on Monday on the topic of human evolution, because it's going to be very helpful for you when you're completing the major assignment I'm about to set you," Mr Livingston proclaimed, as he walked around the room handing out assignment criteria sheets to everyone. Needless to say, the announcement prompted a wave of groans from the sitting class.

Mr. Livingston spoke over the grumbling students, "You will all be happy to know that this assignment is to be completed in pairs, so the workload can be divided equally between the two partners." This proclamation was met with a much more positive response from the students. "However," the teacher continued, and the group of final year students quietened, somehow not surprised that there was a catch, "I shall be picking the pairs."

Mr Livingston began pairing off the students simply based on who was already sitting next to whom. Jessie's stomach had already tightened before their teacher had announced Jessie and James partners – she had counted ahead. The girl and boy looked at each other, neither saying a word.

"You may begin work straight away. And may I just remind you that while I have not yet set a due date, one will be decided for within the next two weeks. I suggest that you do some out-of-school work together if you want any chance of scoring a B or higher," the biology teacher finished, before sitting down at his desk at the front of the room. The room was then filled with the screech of desks scraping across the floor as partners moved closer together in order to work with each other.

James was the one to drag his desk over to connect with Jessie's. He sat back down in his chair before finally speaking to her.

"...Hey. I'm James, as you've probably already gathered. James Morgan."

Jessie kept her head down, but lifted her eyes to look as he spoke. She briefly forced a smile onto her face. "I'm Jessie... Jessie Ketchum."

James genuinely smiled back. "Hey... I'm sorry about kind of ending your argument with Julian in English before. He was really getting on my nerves though."

"That's okay," Jessie laughed meekly, lifting her head this time, "I had just about given up at the time you jumped in anyway. It was a bit of a relief actually."

Jessie looked back down to her criteria sheet, but was curious about something. "So... um, I didn't see you in English or Biology classes on Monday or Tuesday."

"That's because I wasn't in any of them." James replied, sardonically. He was met with a frown from Jessie, and laughed. "I was still on vacation with my parents. We only just flew back in last night."

Jessie raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Where did you go?"

James' face turned a little red. "Uh... we stayed at the Lillialis Islands," he said, the last few words slightly slurred, as if to take away their effect.

Jessie's eyes widened. Did she hear properly? Did he say the Lillialis Islands? She had guessed that he was quite wealthy when she saw that he had a laptop, but only billionaires could afford to go to the tropical Lillialis Islands. Those two words were purely the things of daydreams for normal people like her.

Jessie could hardly utter a word. Her biology partner was a billionaire? Or at least, his parents were. She watched James, anxiously twisting his pen around in his hand. She understood that this was the sort of thing that he got inappropriate reactions from, and Jessie was determined not to be one of those people who became obsessed with the fact that they knew someone who was seriously loaded.

"Well, we should really get some of this work done. It's not going to do itself," Jessie said in an even tone.

James looked up, his expression showing gratefulness that she didn't harp on about his affluence.

As the pair discussed how they were going to go about their assignment, Jessie suddenly realised why Julian backed down so easily from James in English before lunch. Of course, James did make a very valid point, but in Spire City High, wealth usually came pre-packaged with popularity. James was probably one of the most popular guys in the school, and Julian being the sort of person he is, wouldn't be likely to argue against someone like that.

Jessie shook the thoughts from her mind, trying to focus on what James was saying. She wasn't the sort of person to become smug or intimidated by someone who was at the top of the popularity ladder. The fact that she didn't even know who this guy was before this day proved that. ...But then, what was it that was making Jessie feel so strange as she sat next to James discussing with him genetics and the theories of human evolution?

* * *

Jessie and James sat up straight after being hunched over their desks for the best part of two periods, as the bell indicating the end of the day resonated from the speaker in the biology room. The sound of desks scraping along the floor filled the room again as the students dragged them back into their original places. 

Jessie and James' conversations during class had been limited to strictly biology-related topics. Jessie had no idea what was going on inside James' head, but within her own she had been feeling more than a little confused. James was different to the usual guys she got to know - he had a certain air about him, like there was a lot more to this person that meets the eye. But that left her feeling like she didn't know where she stood with James, which in turn produced sensations of apprehension and cautiousness.

The pair stood up. "What do you say we do some more work on this during lunchtime tomorrow?" He proposed, not knowing how Jessie would respond, "It's probably better if we do a lot of work on this to begin with so we're not hit hard-on when Livingston gives us the due date."

Jessie hesitated, before mentally scolding herself. Why should she be troubled about doing some study with her biology partner one lunchtime? She was again being ridiculous. "Sure, that's probably a good idea."

James smiled enigmatically. "Great. I'll meet you in the library tomorrow at one o'clock then." And with that, he spun on his heel and left the room.

* * *

"Guess what?" Ash prompted, plonking himself on one of the stools at the island bench in the Ketchum kitchen. 

Jessie was leaning against the utility bench against the wall, waiting for the kettle to boil. "What?"

Ash had a pleased grin plastered across his face. "I talked to Misty today."

Jessie looked up at Ash with an expression of expectancy. "And?"

"And what? I had a full ten-minute conversation with my crush today! What more do you expect!"

Jessie laughed incredulously. "Do you want a hot drink?"

"Hot chocolate please."

Jessie spooned the appropriate powders for a hot chocolate and a coffee into a couple of mugs, before pouring the steaming water in, and lastly, the milk. She handed Ash's mug to him. "I thought you were going to ask her to the movies or the arcade or something."

Ash sipped his drink. "Hey, I'm working on it. One step at a time, you know."

Jessie smiled. She slid onto one of the stools next to Ash and gently blew the steam off her coffee, before taking a sip herself. Still, she could not stop thinking about James. He was of the type of people that she would usually detest – rich, snobbish and totally conceited. But already he had somehow proved that he was not like that. She somehow felt that if she got to know this guy, he might be someone she could come to like. It was strange for her that she would have these feelings so soon after just meeting a person, but there was something different about him. Or so she thought, anyway. Time would soon tell, as they were sure to be seeing a lot of each other over the next week. It was just up to her to let down a few walls and show a little friendship and kindness, or otherwise she might end up scaring him away like she had so many others with her defensively hostile temperament. She took another sip of her coffee.

One step at a time.

* * *

Yay! First chapter completed! So what do you think? What's going to happen between Jessie and James? Will Ash ask Misty out? I know things probably sound a little moderate at the moment, but trust me, there is a lot more action ahead. Keep your eye out for the next chapter – we'll see a few more of our favourite characters introduced. And PLEASE review – the more reviews I get, the more likely I am to work towards getting the next chapters done! 

Till next time,  
BansheeGirl

* * *

**Author's Note, 9th July 2005: Hey guys! Thanks to the new 'hit' feature available I'm glad to see that a lot of people are still visiting this fic I wrote last year! But how come nobody's reviewing anymore? Just because _Evolution_ is finished and I'm not updating anymore doesn't mean that everyone needs to be so quiet! I'm still around, and would love to know what everyone's still thinking of it! So go on - just press that little button down there and give me a nice, juicy review! Thanks, luv y'all!**


	2. Chapter Two

> > ::Evolution::  
  
Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...  
  
The second chapter to my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!  
  
BansheeGirl  
  
Ages:  
  
Jessie – 17  
  
James – 17  
  
Ash – 13  
  
Misty – 13  
  
Cassidy – 17
>> 
>> ::Evolution – Chapter2::  
  
Jessie wove her way through the corridors of Spire City High, clasping several textbooks to her chest. The crimson-haired teenager suddenly noticed that her heart was beating a lot faster than usual – was she actually _anticipating_ meeting with her new Biology partner in the library? Jessie looked at her watch – it was almost one o'clock. She quickened her pace, before finally rounding the corner to come to the door of the school's enormous library.  
  
She walked along the rows of tables set aside for students to work at, keeping an eye out for her lavender-headed partner. Her eyes finally fell upon him sitting at a table talking to another guy. She took a deep breath and strode over.  
  
"Hey," Jessie said evenly, alerting the two boys of her presence.  
  
James and the other guy spun around to look at Jessie. James smiled. "Hey Jessie. This is my best friend Cameron," he said, motioning towards the guy standing beside him.  
  
"Nice to meet you," Cameron said, smiling while brushing a lock of brunette hair behind his ear. "But I really have to go. Biology is just a bit too exciting for me." He laughed he and James farewelled each other, and Jessie watched as he sauntered out of sight.  
  
Now, Jessie definitely knew that guy. She may not have been big on who was who on the popularity chart in Spire City High, but nearly everyone knew that Cameron Findlay was supposed to be one of the most popular and good- looking boys in the school. This just re-confirmed her assumption that James was not only rich, but extremely popular as well. She turned back to James to find he was setting out his Biology books across the table. Rich? Popular? She knew she had to be particularly careful with this one. No matter how different he seemed or how nice he was to her, she just couldn't ignore the stereotype.  
  
"So, how have you been?" James asked as Jessie sat down beside him to set out her own textbooks.  
  
She looked up at him and gave a slight frown. "Since yesterday afternoon's biology class? Errr... Okay, I guess," Jessie didn't know whether to feel uncomfortable or not.  
  
"I went on the net last night and printed us off some extra information," Jessie continued, thinking that Biology would be the safest topic of conversation. She pulled out some sheets of paper from her folder and handed them to James. He scanned his eyes over the information.  
  
"Excellent. This stuff looks great," he replied. The two began discussing their assignment, and started to write up the first portions of their project.  
  
Before they knew it, lunchtime was almost over. Time had passed quickly, but Jessie and James had gotten quite a lot of work done.  
  
"That was definitely worth it. We're well on track with the assignment now," James said, collecting his books and papers from their sprawled positions across the table.  
  
Jessie smiled. The atmosphere between them had gotten a lot friendlier and a lot more comfortable as they had worked together on their project over the past forty-five minutes.  
  
As James picked up the last of his books he lifted his head and the pair came face to face. Again, just like the day before, Jessie and James found themselves locked in a gaze, neither unable to shift their eyes from the other's. This time, however, it was James who first snapped his head away.  
  
"So what do you have next?" he queried, quickly.  
  
Jessie bent her head down to hide her now slightly red face, and flipped open her school diary. She still hadn't memorised the new semester's timetable. "Double Theatre Studies."  
  
James raised his eyebrows. "Really?" He asked, with genuine interest. "What's that subject like?"  
  
Jessie paused before speaking. "... I really enjoy it, actually. I'm kind of really into all those sort of cultural and humanity subjects," she said, eyes fixed on the floor. This was the first thing she'd really told James anything about her interests or personal life. Slowly, Jessie lifted her look to meet James'. He was smiling.  
  
Jessie felt like she was going crazy. Why was this happening to her? Did she usually act this way with her class partners? She thought of her last Biology partner – a guy named Mitchell. Jessie knew that she didn't have this funny feeling inside with Mitchell, but was she so painstakingly careful with what she said or let him know? Or was it the fact that because James _was_ giving her this funny feeling that she was being so cautious?  
  
She shook her head of the confusing thoughts. "So, um, what do you have, then?" She asked James.  
  
A tired look appeared on his face. "Specialist Maths."  
  
It was Jessie's turn to be surprised. "Specialist Maths! Gosh, you must have some brain in there to be able to that sort of stuff. I struggle with normal Year 12 Further Maths! I honestly couldn't think of doing anything worse than Specialist... No offence of anything." Jessie was truly shocked. Specialist Maths was _really_ hard.  
  
"Don't worry, none taken," James laughed. "I know, it does become a real drag sometimes, but if I can get good marks on end-of-year exams, it will work well towards my university entrance-score."  
  
Jessie smiled with sympathy. She truly hated maths.  
  
James opened his mouth to say something else to Jessie, but his eyes diverted over her shoulder to land on something else. Or someone else.  
  
"Hi James! How are you going?" Jessie heard the loud, painfully familiar voice come from behind her. She spun around to have a blonde-headed girl push past her and hug James.  
  
"Hey Cassidy, I'm great," said James, as the two finished the embrace. "So you're back from your vacation at Orchidia Bay?"  
  
"Yeah, we just got back yesterday. It was a total blast James, you really have to come along with us next time we go," Cassidy smiled nauseatingly at him.  
  
Jessie, momentarily ignored, watched on, shocked. Her blood was rapidly simmering inside of her very veins. Cassidy Fleckman. She should have seen it coming.  
  
James suddenly remembered that Jessie was still standing by them. "Oh, sorry!" He exclaimed, and turned Cassidy round by her shoulder to face the other girl. "Sorry Jessie, this is Cassidy Fleckman. Our families have been friends since before we were born." He turned his head towards Cassidy. "And Cassidy, this is Jessie Ketchum, my Biology partner."  
  
After the initial look of astonishment that appeared on Cassidy's face, the two eyed each other, both expressionless and wordless. A smirk suddenly formed on Cassidy's face. "Yes, we know each other," she said in a honeyed tone. Jessie glared at the other girl.  
  
"Oh?" James enquired. "How, exactly?"  
  
The smirk remained on Cassidy's face. "We had a few classes together in our early years of high-school."  
  
Jessie could not stay there a moment longer, or she would burst. How could that Cassidy just stand there with that sneer on her face? We had a few classes together? Why doesn't she tell the rest of the story? Angry thoughts screamed around Jessie's head. She had to get out.  
  
"I have to go," Jessie spat, not caring to remove the viciousness from her voice. Right now she hated both people standing in front of her, and couldn't wait to get away from each of them. She spun around to walk away.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow in Biology," James yelled as Jessie hurried away.  
  
She didn't respond.  
  
James frowned worriedly. Something just went wrong.
>> 
>> * * *
>> 
>> Jessie slammed her bedroom door behind her, tossed her schoolbag on the floor and flung herself on the bed. School was over, and she was home. But Jessie was still furious about what happened in the library earlier that day.  
  
Again and again, that image of Cassidy just standing there smirking at her kept forcing itself into Jessie's mind. How had this girl managed to ruin everything for Jessie once again? She felt like screaming.  
  
What Cassidy hadn't told James was that her and Jessie were actually very close friends through most of their first couple of years at high school. They were two new girls in a giant, unfamiliar and somewhat scary new school, and had found companionship in each other after first meeting in their Year 7 English class. However, as Cassidy eventually learnt to use her wealth as a tool for popularity, Jessie was quickly dumped so Cassidy could hang out with the other popular kids of the school. Jessie was left hurt, lost and friendless.  
  
But that wasn't all.  
  
Cassidy made a point from then on to purposely torture Jessie whenever she saw her. Of course, being the best of friends for some time, Jessie had told Cassidy all about her parents. So Cassidy, with this knowledge, tormented Jessie with taunts of being 'an accident', 'unwanted', and 'a bastard'. And every time, Cassidy did this out in the open, so more and more people always found out about what Jessie considered a very personal, hurtful and shaming issue. It was only last term that Cassidy had humiliated Jessie in front of everyone in a café in town, when the two had inadvertently ended up there at the same time one night after school. Jessie of course had new friends now to stand up for and support her, but even though she tried to cover it up, Jessie was still hurt every single time.  
  
And now the witch had come to ruin another part of Jessie's life! Just when Jessie had thought she'd met a guy who was different from all the rest, along comes her archenemy to destroy everything. Was Cassidy's mission in life to make Jessie's a living hell? Could not Jessie ever escape Cassidy and her complete wickedness? And the worst part was, around other people – i.e. James, Cassidy acted like the relationship between her and Jessie was just great... as if they were two people who wouldn't rip each other's throats out if they had the chance.  
  
Jessie became even angrier. How could she have become so preoccupied over a guy who was 'old friends' with the bitchiest girl she had ever met? She silently chided herself. She should have known. All those rich, popular people are all the same, Jessie thought. And James was just another one of them.  
  
Her mind again drifted back to the library scene. James even _acted_ like a totally different person when Cassidy appeared. She winced when she thought of how fake he seemed to behave, and noticed that he did almost the same thing when Cameron was around as well.  
  
Jessie was snapped out of her enraged reverie at the sound of a knock at her bedroom door.  
  
"Come in," she yelled, though not particularly wanting to see anyone at this moment.  
  
The door was opened to reveal her aunty Delia on the other side. The woman stepped inside the room and quietly closed the door behind her.  
  
"Are you okay, honey?" She asked in a concerned tone, and sat down on Jessie's bed. She waited for Jessie's response.  
  
Jessie stared up at the ceiling. "I'm fine, aunty Delia," she sighed, and was met by an unbelieving look from her aunt. "Really, I am."  
  
"Are you sure? School's not getting you down, is it? Have you had a fight with one of your friends?"  
  
Jessie looked to her aunt. She knew that Delia always became very concerned when her niece seemed to be having emotional problems. Jessie knew that Delia worried that she wasn't providing her adopted daughter with the motherly advice and care that she should. She felt that Delia believed that she couldn't fill Miyamoto's role in these times of emotional turmoil. So Jessie always tried to cooperate with her aunt in these situations, just to show that she considered Delia to be the greatest mother she could ever wish for after her real mother's death.  
  
She sat up next to her aunt. "No... I just... I'm just having some problems with my new biology partner, that's all."  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?" Delia pressed.  
  
Jessie smiled weakly. "No, it's okay. It's nothing I can't handle. Don't worry."  
  
Delia smiled back, and pushed herself up off the bed. "Okay. Just let me know if you need anything though, all right?" She bent down and kissed her niece on the forehead.  
  
"Thanks aunty Delia," said Jessie, and she watched as Delia exited the room.  
  
Jessie flopped herself back down on the bed. Well, at least Delia had managed to calm her down. But now Jessie only felt angry for allowing herself to become so worked up over James. What was so special about him anyway? It was probably better that Cassidy came along earlier rather than later anyway, so Jessie didn't make a complete fool of herself when she found out the truth about James.  
  
Jessie turned on her side, and suddenly realised she was utterly exhausted. She slowly closed her eyes and began drifting off to sleep, and unconsciously wiped away the single tear that slid down her cheek.
>> 
>> * * *
>> 
>> Woohoo! Second chapter finished! Firstly, may I just say that I am SO sorry to anyone who has been waiting so long for me to bring the next instalment of this story out. I know, it has been quite some time since I wrote the first chapter of this fic. But I have seriously been flat out with homework, work and all that other nonsense that make teenager's lives so stressful. Yeah, you know the clichés. But anyway, I'm on school holidays at the moment so I should be able to pop out a few more chapters before I return to the grind again.  
  
So anyway, what do you think of the story so far? Please let me know by reviewing, IT WILL MOTIVATE ME TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTERS FASTER! Sorry to Ash and Misty fans for not giving these characters appearances in this chapter, but don't worry, they're going to be main characters in the next one. As you probably gathered, I've added another of our original Pokémon characters into the story (Cassidy) (what do you guys think?), and there's at least one more that's going to play a part in the tale. So there's plenty more action to come!  
  
Stay tuned for next time when –  
  
Jessie must confront James after her discovery that he's friends with her greatest enemy,  
  
AND  
  
Ash has to try and work up the courage to ask Misty out on a date!  
  
REMEMBER – YOU REVIEW FOR ME, I WRITE MORE FOR YOU! ...Well, it's true!  
  
Till next time,
>> 
>> BansheeGirl


	3. Chapter Three

> ::Evolution::  
  
Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...  
  
The third chapter to my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!  
  
- BansheeGirl.  
  
Ages:  
  
Jessie – 17  
  
James – 17  
  
Ash – 13  
  
Misty – 13  
  
Cassidy – 17  
  
Brock - 15
> 
> ::Evolution – Chapter3::  
  
As the bell signalling the end of lunchtime sounded throughout the schoolyard, Jessie could feel her whole insides dropping. For the next two periods she had Biology – which meant she would have to face James for the first time since her abrupt exit yesterday after finding out that he was good friends with Cassidy Fleckman, who was, coincidentally, Jessie's worst enemy.  
  
"Ohhhhhhhhh!" Jessie groaned aggressively, catching the attention of her best friend, Vanessa, who was standing up next to her.  
  
"What's up with you?" Vanessa queried, slightly amused. She held her hand out to pull Jessie up from where she was sitting on the ground.  
  
Jessie looked hesitantly at her best friend's hand, before finally accepting the gesture. "I have double Biology next," she said, as Vanessa hauled her up from the grass.  
  
Vanessa cocked one eyebrow. "I thought you didn't mind Biology."  
  
The two girls began walking towards the closest entrance into the school. Jessie sighed, staring up at the sky. "It's not Biology itself... it's my Biology partner."  
  
"I thought you didn't mind your Biology partner either," Vanessa said incredulously. It was so hard to keep up with what was going on inside her friend's head.  
  
Jessie shot her an exasperated look. "Well, yesterday I found out that he's 'old friends' with, wait for it – Cassidy Fleckman." The sapphire-eyed teenager scowled.  
  
A look of understanding suddenly appeared on Vanessa's face. She smiled sympathetically at the girl next to her. "Oh well. Just think of it this way – in two weeks or so you'll never have to talk to the guy ever again."  
  
"Yeah, despite the fact that I share ten classes with him every week," Jessie said doubtfully.  
  
The pair entered the school and each collected respective books from their lockers before parting for the afternoon's lessons. With every step Jessie took towards her designated Biology room, her stomach tightened with dread at the thought of having to spend two whole periods working alongside James. The door soon came into view.  
  
Jessie slid the door open and stepped into the classroom. Her teacher, Mr. Livingston, swiftly met her with instructions to work with her partner on the assignment over the next two periods. Jessie sighed. She had expected no less.  
  
James was sitting in the far corner of the classroom, already tapping away at his laptop. He had also already pulled two desks together for him and Jessie to work at. Jessie took a deep breath and walked over. As she silently slid into the seat next to him, James lifted his head and smiled.  
  
"Hey. How are you going?" He said in a friendly manner.  
  
Jessie said nothing. She was suddenly surprised by the fact that even though she knew that he was friends with the likes of Cassidy Fleckman, as James sat next to her, smiling and talking so warmly, that funny feeling somewhere inside of Jessie appeared once again. That feeling which told her that James was different from the rest. That he was somehow... special.  
  
"Jessie?"  
  
Jessie snapped her head up, pushing the thoughts out of her mind. She reminded herself of what she had walked into this room thinking.  
  
"Listen, can we just get to work? It isn't going to do itself," She said coldly. She put her head down and flipped through one of her textbooks, exerting a little more force every time she turned a page.  
  
James slowly turned back to stare at his laptop screen. Slightly miffed by Jessie's brusqueness, he was puzzled by the sudden feeling of guilt he had inside. What did he do? James felt a twang of alarm – he didn't know where things stood between him and Jessie, but he knew that he didn't want there to be any hostility amid them.  
  
"Um, I know it's probably not my place to say," James started, trying to choose his words carefully, "but is something upsetting you?"  
  
Jessie lifted her head to deliver a positively antagonising glare at her Biology partner. "You're right. It's not your place to say," she spat, jerking her head back to continue reading her textbook.  
  
James frowned worriedly. "Is this about you storming out of the library yesterday? Did I do or say something to upset you?" He braced himself for her response.  
  
Jessie sighed angrily and slammed her palms down on the desk. "Did you not comprehend what I just said? Mind your own business, and let me do some work."  
  
Jessie and James suddenly became aware of the several odd looks they were receiving from some of the other Biology students in the classroom. The two bent back over to carry on with their work, the feeling of confused animosity between the pair wordlessly rising.  
  
A few minutes passed, the situation not having changed. As Jessie turned the next page of her book, she accidentally knocked one of her pens off the desk. It landed near the leg of James' chair, and the lavender-haired boy automatically bent down to pick it up. Jessie quickly bent down to grab it before him, but James reached it first. She swiftly snatched the pen out of his hand.  
  
"I don't need you to pick up after me, thanks very much," she scowled.  
  
An expression of incredulity appeared on James' face. "Just what, exactly, is your problem?" He asked, this time not bothering to be careful with what he said.  
  
"What's my problem?" Jessie retorted. "I think you should take a step back and ask yourself the same thing."  
  
"So, this _is_ about me! Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did, but it'd sure help if you told me exactly what I have done to make you so upset!" The two were arguing in half-whispers so as not to attract attention from the other class members again.  
  
Jessie tittered disbelievingly. "Don't flatter yourself by thinking I would get upset over _you_."  
  
"James! Jessie!" They each snapped their heads up. "It's all very well to talk about your assignment in here but it would be nice if you'd both stop chatting and actually get some work done," Mr. Livingston directed from the front of the room.  
  
Jessie and James threw one last glare at each other. For the remainder of the Biology class nothing was said between the pair. No noise was made, apart from the constant tapping of the keys on James' laptop, or the scribble of Jessie's pen against paper on the desk. They both knew that they were supposed to be working together on this project, but at this very moment civil communication between the two teenagers seemed impossible. The hostility surrounding them was almost thick enough to cut with a knife.  
  
After what seemed like several hours had passed, the bell finally rang. A wave of relief washed over Jessie. She had been constantly glancing at her watch, waiting for that bell to ring so she could escape the suffocating confines of the classroom. The minute hand had seemed to move ever so slowly - Jessie had felt like the day would never end.  
  
As the bell concluded its sounding, Jessie leapt out of her chair and gathered her books as quickly as she could. James was no different, and snapped shut his laptop before hastily shoving it in its case.  
  
As he lifted his head James only just glimpsed the back of Jessie as she swiftly exited the room.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Jessie closed her eyes and slid the volume dial on her discman up a few more notches, trying to block out the thoughts in her head. But even with the extremely loud music blaring directly into her ears, she could not stop thinking about James, and the argument she and him had gotten into in Biology.  
  
She had been so angry when she found out that James was a companion of Cassidy's, that Jessie had vowed to hate him forever. But today, seeing and being with him, Jessie had begun to think twice about her assumptions. And now she was feeling angry all over again. A hint of confusion and helplessness had also been also added into the turmoil of emotions.  
  
Jessie wanted to hate James. She hated his kind, and the superficial way they all acted. She had even seen James act like that himself. Or was that the way he normally acted, and was he being superficial with her? Jessie was so confused. But the thing was, no matter how much she told herself that she didn't like James during fifth and sixth period that day, there had always been that warm, fuzzy feeling niggling away at the back of her mind.  
  
Even if Jessie was wrong about James, and he was actually a decent person, there was no way things between them could be resolved now anyway. She had expressed to James that she had a problem with him, and James had ended up responding in an equally hostile manner. They were hardly even on speaking terms.  
  
Jessie sighed. Whatever was going on, she decided it was best to stop thinking about him. James only proved to be a nuisance no matter what angle she looked at things. Whether he was a selfish, egotistical guy or a friendly and charming one, Jessie didn't think she could deal – or didn't want to deal with the emotions he teased out in her. Hey – after only three days of knowing James he already had her in a state of absolute frustration and confusion. Jessie didn't try to think about what many more could do to her.  
  
Jessie was roused from her thoughts by a sudden tugging on one of the plugs lodged in her ear. She blinked her eyes open to find Ash and his best friend, Brock, towering over her. She pulled on the cords to remove the plugs from her ears and hauled herself up into a sitting position on her bed.  
  
"Hey Brock," Jessie said, greeting the strongly tanned boy.  
  
Brock grinned. "Hey Jess, how are you doing?" Jessie got on well with most of Ash's friends, especially Brock, who always seemed to be over at the Ketchum household. Nobody minded though – he was pretty much considered a part of the family.  
  
Ash left no time for Jessie to answer. "Brock and I are going down to Hutchy's for a milkshake. Do you want to come?"  
  
Jessie grimaced. Ash had noticed her bad mood as they walked home from school that afternoon, and she knew that he was doing this to cheer her up. She really didn't want to go anywhere right at that moment, though.  
  
"No Ash, it's okay. I'm fine here, thanks. You guys go ahead," she said, moving to replace the discman plugs back in her ears.  
  
Ash quickly jumped to stop his cousin. He snatched the discman out of Jessie's hands before she had even gotten the plugs in her ears and set it on the desk beside her. "I don't think so, missy. You're coming with us to Hutchy's whether you like it or not."  
  
Brock added a "yeah," in, just for effect.  
  
Jessie looked pleadingly up at the two boys. "Really, I don't want to go."  
  
Ash and Brock fleetingly exchanged knowing glances before each grabbing an arm of Jessie's. Together they hauled her up off the bed.  
  
"I told you, you're coming with us if you like it or not. Even if we have to drag you," Ash commanded, and the two proceeded to drag Jessie towards the door of her bedroom.  
  
"Okay, okay!" Jessie yelled, giving in. "Just let me do my hair again and I'll meet you downstairs."  
  
Ash and Brock smiled victoriously at each other before leaving the room. Their footsteps could be heard thudding all the way down the stairs.  
  
Jessie pulled out the hair-tie from the messy ponytail she had obtained after lying on her bed. As she ran a hairbrush through her shiny, crimson locks, she quietly laughed at the deviousness of her younger cousin. No matter how upset Jessie ever became, Ash always managed to find some way of cheering her up or making her smile. Damn him.  
  
She threw her hair into a sleek ponytail, and headed out of the room and downstairs to meet the two boys waiting for her.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Some time later, Jessie was sitting on one of the stools at the counter of Hutchy's café, slowly sipping her milkshake through a bright pink straw.  
  
Alone.  
  
Some cheering up those two set out to do, she thought to herself, referring to Ash and Brock. Jessie had hardly finished ordering her milkshake before Ash and Brock had gulped theirs down, and rushed out the door saying they had to duck down to the mall for a second to buy a new video game. Five minutes, they said they'd be. Jessie looked at her watch. So far it had been fifteen minutes, and counting.  
  
Jessie folded a serviette around in her fingers to occupy herself. She was really getting bored. She tried to listen to all the sounds around her, just in order to stop her mind from wandering back to a certain problem that wouldn't seem to leave her alone. Somebody was ordering two double- chocolate milkshakes, two girls were stationed at a booth talking about what they were going to wear to some party tomorrow night, someone kept tapping a spoon or something against the side of their glass, a man was complaining to one of the waiters that there was not enough jam in his doughnut, and there was the never-ending sound of the bell on the door as people walked in and out.  
  
Jessie suddenly looked sideways as a girl who appeared to be a few years younger than Jessie slid into the stool beside her. The girl had bright orange hair, and as she turned Jessie marvelled at her sparkling ice-blue eyes. The girl smiled.  
  
"Hi," she said.  
  
Jessie returned the smile. "Hi. You here alone?" She felt like being sociable.  
  
"Yeah. My three older sisters kind of just got into this really huge fight back at home so I thought I'd make myself scarce. You alone as well?" The girl seemed friendly enough.  
  
"Well, I _did_ come here with my little cousin and his best friend, but they ditched me for a few minutes to go and buy some new video game or something," Jessie said, looking at her watch, "but that was twenty minutes ago," Jessie rolled her eyes. The other girl laughed.  
  
A boy appeared on the other side of the counter. "May I get you anything, miss?" He directed at the orange-haired girl.  
  
The girl looked at the interesting-looking milkshake that Jessie was still sipping away at on the counter. "I'll have what she's got."  
  
Jessie raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure? Do you know what's in this thing? Not many can keep down this concoction."  
  
The girl's grin broadened. "Sure. I'll try anything once."  
  
Jessie looked to the boy behind the counter, whom she knew quite well after many visits to Hutchy's, with a doubtful look on her face. "You heard what she said, Lewis."  
  
"All-righty then," Lewis said, rubbing his hands together. "I hope you know what you're in for. Jessie here has been the only one so far who's been able to stomach this milkshake. In fact she was the one who first requested the... let's say, _strange_ combination of flavours." The boy grinned and disappeared for a minute, before coming back and sliding the mystery milkshake onto the counter in front of the girl next to Jessie.  
  
"Enjoy," he said, before hurrying off to attend to another customer.  
  
The girl peered inside the tall glass. "So, um, what's actually in this thing?"  
  
Jessie smirked. "Well, first you have a mixture of raspberry and boysenberry syrup and creamy vanilla icecream. Then there's a bit of powdered cinnamon poured in, plus some Irish cream. Pour the milk in, plus some finely chopped banana chips. After it's whizzed by that fabulous milkshake machine over there," Jessie said, pointing to the giant silver milkshake-maker over the counter, "a dollop of whipped cream is plopped on top, and a few chocolate-mint flakes are sprinkled on top to finish it all off."  
  
The girl stared wide-eyed at Jessie, before turning to the glass before her. She took a deep breath. "Well, here goes!" She bent her head down to sip from the straw poking its way out of the whipped cream on top.  
  
Jessie leant forward intently, as the girl lifted her head up from the drink. "Well?" She asked.  
  
The girl turned to Jessie, moving her tongue around in her mouth as if giving her tastebuds more time to assess the flavour. Finally she finished, and the corners of her mouth slowly curved upwards.  
  
"Yum!"  
  
Jessie's mouth dropped in disbelief. "You really like it?!" She asked, incredulously.  
  
The girl nodded her head vigorously, and took another giant sip from the milkshake. "This is great! You're a genius!"  
  
Jessie laughed. Who would have thought?  
  
Two figures suddenly appeared beside Jessie. She looked up at them. "Where have you guys been? I thought you said you'd only be a couple of minutes?!"  
  
"Sorry!" Ash said, holding his palms up in defence.  
  
"There were a few more new games out and we had trouble deciding which one we really wanted to buy," said Brock.  
  
Jessie finished the last of her milkshake. "And which one did you end up buying?"  
  
Ash and Brock turned slightly red. "Errr... ...The one we were going to buy in the first place," said Ash, as he scuffed at the floor with the toe of his shoe.  
  
Jessie rolled her eyes once more. All of a sudden Ash became aware of the girl sitting next to Jessie.  
  
"Misty!" He cried.  
  
Jessie snapped her head around to look at the girl next to her. She had been unknowingly chatting away to the love of Ash's life?  
  
Misty smiled shyly. "Hey Ash. Hey Brock."  
  
Ash turned an even deeper shade of red. He was choked for what to say.  
  
Jessie noticed, and quickly spoke instead. "So you're Misty, huh? I think I've heard Ash talk about you before. All good stuff of course."  
  
Misty laughed nervously. Ash shot a desperate look of 'what are you doing?!' at his older cousin. Jessie smiled calmly back at him. She had everything under control.  
  
"Do you play video games, Misty?" Jessie asked.  
  
Misty nodded her head. "Yeah, I do actually."  
  
"What's the game you bought today, Ash?" Jessie queried, as Ash pulled the brand new video game out of its bag.  
  
"Uh, it's called _The Dragonites of Rubysmoke_. Have you ever heard of it? It's a role playing game." Ash looked timidly up at his crush.  
  
Misty eyed the game, then peered back at Ash. "Have I heard of it?! I've been waiting for ages for this game to be released! I didn't know it had come out yet," she said enthusiastically.  
  
Ash's eyes brightened. "It was just put out in the shops today."  
  
"Ash and I bought it as soon as we could," Brock added.  
  
Ash looked at Jessie. He wanted to ask Misty something, but he didn't know if he could work up the courage to do it. Jessie subtly nodded her head in encouragement. Ash turned to Misty, and took a deep breath.  
  
"Do you... would you like to come over to my house tomorrow perhaps... and play _The Dragonites of Rubysmoke_?" He said, rushing in some parts while pausing in others. He diverted his eyes to the ground and braced himself for her response.  
  
"Sure, I'd love to," Misty said simply.  
  
Ash peered up at her, utter shock showing on his face. He took a moment to speak again. "G-great!"  
  
He could not contain his excitement.  
  
"I live at 24 Chrystia Avenue. Do you know where that is?"  
  
Misty nodded. "My grandmother lives near there. I'll be able to find it easily."  
  
"Excellent! Come around, say, one o'clock then?" Ash asked, eagerly.  
  
Misty laughed. "Okay!"  
  
Jessie stood up. He was going so well, she thought they should leave before Ash said something stupid. "Well, we better go. It was nice meeting you, Misty. I'm glad I've found someone who likes my milkshake creation."  
  
"No, thank you for introducing me to your milkshake creation, Jessie!" Misty twisted her fingers together. "Seeya Brock... Bye Ash." Jessie noticed the other girl's face turned slightly scarlet.  
  
"Seeya Misty," said Brock.  
  
"... I'll see you tomorrow Misty," Ash said, and Jessie had to tug on his arm before he moved from the spot where he was standing. She quickly waved to the still sitting Misty, and the three exited the café.  
  
Once they had gotten out of sight of the café, Ash jumped into the air.  
  
"Woohoo!" He yelled, attracting the attention from several passers-by. He grabbed onto the arm of his cousin. "Thankyou! Gosh, if you hadn't been there and said something I would have just stood there like a stunned mullet. Brock isn't really much help," Ash playfully accused his friend walking beside them.  
  
"Hey!" The other boy cried.  
  
Ash laughed. "Don't worry Brock, I saw you eyeing that blonde waitress."  
  
Brock dropped his jaw in mock-astonishment. "How dare you accuse me of such a thing."  
  
The three teenagers laughed, and continued walking along the footpath.  
  
"I want to ask her to the school dance," said Ash, after a few moments of silence.  
  
"The dance?" Jessie questioned. She didn't even know there was a school dance coming up. She never really got involved in those sort of things.  
  
"Yeah, it's next Saturday. Do you think I should ask her?"  
  
"Of _course_ you should," Brock and Jessie said simultaneously. Ash looked around at them incredulously. Why did things seem so certain for _them_?  
  
"She likes you Ash, even if you can't see it. Trust me," she reassured. "Just be yourself and everything will turn out fine."  
  
Ash looked at Brock, and then his cousin uncertainly. He thought he'd wait and see how things turned out on the weekend before making any decisions.  
  
Jessie smiled to herself. Well, at least she had managed to help Ash on track with his love life. Now she just had to sort out her own.  
  
And so the trio pressed on towards the Ketchum house, Jessie candidly unaware that she had just referred to her crisis with James as her love life.
> 
> * * *
> 
> All right! Aha! Third chapter in the bag!  
  
It's been kind of hard to work on this fic because EVEN THOUGH IT IS SCHOOL HOLIDAYS, I still have a truckload of bloody homework to do! I really hate the person who invented homework. Really, I do.  
  
But anyway! What did you guys think of the third instalment? Good? Bad? Ugly? I WANNA KNOW! Please review, it means so much to an author (if I could call myself that .;). Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story so far (don't stop now!), every word has been greatly appreciated. There was a lot more of Ash in this chapter, plus Brock was introduced and we got to meet Misty. So hopefully I'm pleasing a few people.  
  
Stay tuned for the next chapter – will Jessie and James resolve their conflict? And how will Ash's afternoon go with Misty? ALL WILL BE REVEALED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF _EVOLUTION..._  
  
And remember folks, if you want me to continue writing this story... REVIEW!!!  
  
Till next time,  
  
BansheeGirl.


	4. Chapter Four

**::Evolution::**

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

NO, I AM NOT DEAD!

Finally, here is the fourth chapter to my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock - 15

**::Evolution – Chapter4::**

Delia Ketchum looked up from the pot that she was stirring on the stove as the sound of the doorbell resonated throughout the house. She rested the wooden stirring spoon on the bench, quickly washed her hands and swiftly made her way to the front door. The chestnut-haired woman pulled the door open to reveal a young man with lavender tresses standing on the other side.

"Good morning, Mrs. Ketchum," the boy said politely.

Delia smiled, waiting for him to continue. She was not familiar with this young man, but guessed that he went to school with Ash and Jessie.

"I'm... sorry if I'm bothering you," the boy said, looking down at the apron that Delia was wearing, "My name is James Morgan. I go to school with Jessie, and we're Biology partners at the moment... Is it possible that I could speak to her for a few minutes?"

Delia raised her eyebrows. So _this_ was the notorious Biology partner that had been seeming to get Jessie down so much lately.

"I'm sorry James, but Jessie works on Saturday mornings. She doesn't finish until one o'clock, if you'd like to some back then."

"Oh, okay then..." James said, looking rather deep in thought. "I sort of really need to speak to her..."

Delia looked back at James with an expression of motherly scepticism.

"About the assignment, of course," James quickly said. He hoped that he wasn't giving off the wrong impression. "I just need to talk to her about the assignment. We really need to get some extra work done on it, that's all."

Delia laughed. "It's okay, James. If you honestly need to see Jessie that much then you could probably catch up with her at the place she works. Do you know the little antique shop on Gardenia Avenue?"

James shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"That's okay, it's easy enough to find. I'll just write the address down for you on a piece of paper," Delia said, briefly disappearing before returning with a slip of paper in her hand.

"There you go. If you can't find it, just drop into the nearest shop and ask for directions to Tilbury's Antiques." Delia smiled warmly.

James accepted the piece of paper and smiled back at the older lady. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Ketchum."

"Not a problem James," she replied, as she watched him retreat over the lawn and onto the footpath. He fleetingly waved to her before disappearing from view, and Delia closed the door to head back into the kitchen.

The pot she had been stirring earlier was nigh on boiling over, and as Delia jumped to turn the heat down she could not shake the feeling that that would definitely not be the last time she would see the lavender-haired boy.

* * *

Jessie ran her hands over the intricate gold trimming that lined the edges of a small wooden jewellery box sitting on the counter of Tilbury's Antiques. A peculiar sort of paint or dye had been etched into the metal, which shone brilliantly every time it caught the light. Her fingers continued over the several sparkling diamonds that were encrusted into the deep mahogany, and Jessie was captured not for the first time by the beauty of the little object.

The jewellery box had been at Tilbury's Antiques since before Jessie had begun working there. On her first day she had noticed it tucked away in a small, dusty corner of the shop, and Jessie had been immediately enthralled by its magnificence. Every Saturday she always managed to find some reason to wander over to that table in the corner just so that she could look at it one more time. She had initially thought that she was going to buy it, but Jessie was still reeling from the first time she queried about its value. Mr. Tilbury, her boss, had told her that it was made late in the nineteenth century, which she supposed was the reason for the $500 price-tag.

Mr Tilbury, however, had recently become aware that the jewellery box that sat in the little musty corner week in and week out was not attracting the attention that the beautiful little object ought to, and Jessie had been upset to walk into work that morning to find her treasure sitting on the counter for everyone to see – and buy. It would surely be bought by the end of the week, as stock placed on the counter was usually quick to sell. So Jessie thought she had better donate a little extra time to the jewellery box this week as a bit of a farewell session.

She flipped open the lid of the wooden box to reveal an interior cushioned with deep burgundy velvet. A tiny girl flung up on a spring and began twirling around to a tune that played out of the back of the jewellery box. Jessie knew the music but could not put a name to it. She watched as the little ballerina girl twirled around in her delicate little white dress. Jessie was so enraptured by the scene that she did not hear the door open, nor the footsteps of a person until they were a mere two metres away from the counter.

Jessie jumped, before realising that the person standing before her was only James. She put a hand over her heart and let out a sigh. "Don't ever do that to me again," she warned, swiftly snapping the lid of the jewellery box shut and sliding it to one side.

"I'm sorry," James said earnestly, a hint of a smile still showing on his face. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Jessie frowned at James. She was quite surprised to see him. He was the last person she had expected to see walk into the shop, even though she had been thinking about him considerably throughout the morning. Yet she was not about to forget about the situation that still existed between the two.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked first, coldly.

James' calm expression didn't falter. "I stopped by your house and was told that you were working here this morning, so I got the address and headed over."

Jessie cynically glared back at him. "And just _why_ are you here, exactly?"

James looked up and took a deep breath. "Look," he said, lowering his head back down to face Jessie, "I don't know why, but somehow things have become really... intense between you and I. And... I really don't want to have to spend the next week working on an assignment with you when all we'll do is fight. I don't know about you, but I'd really like to get high marks on this project, and you and I both know we won't be able to achieve that if we don't work together as a team. So... if you'll just tell me what's upsetting you... then perhaps we can sort out our differences and make this an A assignment."

Jessie lowered her eyes to the counter, not wanting be allured by James' earnest, emerald ones. She didn't know whether she was comfortable with this. James had actually travelled all across town to come and reconcile their differences? He seemed to be sincere about it, but then again first impressions are not always the true ones, Jessie thought. But then again... this wasn't the first impression, was it? Jessie had known him for four days already. Was it possible for the next ones to be happy and settled between them, or should she keep her guard up, just in case he really was just another high-class snob?

"Please?" James said, and Jessie lifted her eyes to look at him again. "Please, just tell me what's wrong."

Jessie sighed. How did he manage to pull on her heartstrings like that? That look in his eyes just made her want to jump into his arms and tell him everything! What was going on?

"It's just..." Jessie started, and an immediate look of happiness appeared on James' face at his success in getting Jessie to talk. Jessie paused before speaking again, knowing very well that what she was about to say could incredibly offend the person standing in front of her. "I really, really hate Cassidy Fleckman. In fact I'd call her my worst enemy. And, well... you seem to be on very good terms with her."

James actually looked slightly taken aback by what Jessie had said. "You... hate Cassidy?"

Jessie nodded.

James took a moment to process the information. "Um... why?"

Jessie sighed again. She really did not want to enter the details of it all. "It's a long story... and it really doesn't matter anyway. It's just safe to say that I very much do not like her, and she very much does not like me, and there is no way on earth that will ever change."

James smiled ironically, seeming to accept what Jessie was saying. "All right then. You can hate Cassidy, but let's not let that affect anything between us, okay?"

James watched Jessie smile for the first time since that day in the library. "Okay then..." She said.

James grinned, and clapped his hands together. "Well, now that that's sorted out, what do you say we do some work on our assignment this afternoon?"

Jessie slowly nodded, and James continued. "Great. Do you want to meet in a café or something, and do some work on it there?"

"Sure," Jessie said, "...do you know where Hutchy's is?"

A blank look appeared on James' face. "Errr... no, I don't, actually," he replied.

Jessie's jaw dropped. "You've never been to Hutchy's before? I can't believe it! You honestly don't know what you're missing out on – Hutchy's is the best café in all of Spire City."

James laughed. "Guess it's decided then – Hutchy's it is. But... you're going to have to tell me where the place is."

"It's on the corner of Bromelia and Jonquilis Streets, just down from North Spire Mall."

James looked up, as if reading an imaginary map suspended in the air. "I think I know where you're talking about. I'll manage to find it. Erm... what time do you want to meet there?"

Jessie looked down at her watch. "Well, I finish here at one o'clock. I'll have to go home to have lunch and get my books... what about two thirty?"

"Sounds perfect," James said, and he smiled at her for a couple of seconds. "I better leave you to it... your boss might fire you if I hold you up for too much longer."

Jessie returned the smile, and as if on cue, Mr. Tilbury appeared from the back office. James mouthed a silent goodbye and swiftly exited the shop.

"You're not flirting with the customers I hope, Jessie?" Mr Tilbury playfully prompted. He was an old, slender man of about sixty with a mop of grey hair and a moustache to match, whom owned the antique shop with his wife. Jessie got on quite well with the old couple.

Jessie, however, seemed to be stuck in a daze as her eyes followed James' form through the shop window and into the street until he was out of sight.

"No Mr. Tilbury, not me," she sighed.

After all, customers are people who actually _buy_ things from a shop, aren't they?

* * *

A waiter lifted two tall milkshake glasses off a tray and individually placed them on the table in front of Jessie and James. They were sitting on opposite side of a booth in Hutchy's, and had decided to order a milkshake to accompany the work they were gong to do on their assignment. James looked at Jessie's milkshake and a strange look appeared on his face.

"What... is actually in that milkshake?" He queried, not knowing whether he truly wanted the answer.

A smile crept onto Jessie's face. "Cinnamon, boysenberry, Irish cream... a mixture of things," she paused, before continuing, "Do... you want to try it?"

James winced. "Ergh. There's nothing sinister in it, is there? I don't want to drink a milkshake with Pikachu blood in it or anything."

"Just try it! Trust me, it's good," Jessie persuaded, pushing her glass towards James.

The worried look on James' face remained as he lifted the straw out of his own milkshake, took a deep breath and plunged it into Jessie's concoction. Jessie watched intently as he sipped the drink.

James slowly lifted his head up and pulled his straw out of Jessie's milkshake. "That was..." James articulated, with quite an odd expression on his face, "different. You know, I think I'll just stick to my triple chocolate." He laughed and quickly dunked his straw back into his chocolate milkshake.

"Awww! How unadventurous," said Jessie, and she took a few big sips of her milkshake before turning back to the assignment-related paraphernalia that was spread out all across the table. Jessie started to read aloud some information from a book, while James listened and speedily typed it onto his laptop. Every now and again they'd stop to discuss a particular point, and both silently realised that they were working much more efficiently now that they were on good terms. Of course it would have been a lot easier if both were sitting on the same side of the table, but neither felt quite up to that stage yet.

"Hang on," James said, frowning at his laptop screen, "pause for a second, I just have to fix something."

Jessie stopped talking and looked on as James fiddled around with his computer. He brushed a lock of his lavender hair behind his ear, and she watched as one small piece slid back down into his face. Jessie felt her face grow hot and thought about something Delia had said to her before she left for Hutchy's that afternoon.

Jessie had walked in the front door after getting home from work earlier that day and quickly ducked into the kitchen to make herself some lunch. Moments later Delia had appeared, asking how Jessie's morning was and all of the traditional questions. Jessie's heart quickened, however, when her aunty asked whether James had caught up with her at the antique shop.

"Yes, he did actually," Jessie had quickly said. "I have to meet him at Hutchy's later to work on our assignment."

Jessie didn't know why, but she didn't like the look that Delia was giving her. "He's a very nice boy, isn't he?" The chestnut-haired woman had said.

Jessie didn't like the fact that she could feel her face going red as well. "I suppose," she had mumbled.

"Very good looking, too," Delia continued. Jessie kept her head down, trying to conceal her scarlet face from her aunty. Why did she have to feel so embarrassed?

Delia had smiled enigmatically, and wished her niece good luck with the assignment that afternoon. Jessie had tried to push her aunt's mysterious implications to the back of her mind, but now, looking at James, she could not shake them.

He _was_ good looking. _Really_ good looking. And he was a 'very nice boy' as well, wasn't he?

Jessie was snapped from her reverie as James began talking.

"I just have to wait for this program to install. It should only take about five minutes," he stated.

Jessie nodded and finished off the last of her milkshake.

"...Your mother is very nice. She gave me the address for the antique shop you work at when I stopped by your house this morning. Very helpful," James said, trying to make conversation.

Jessie was stopped dead by his words. He meant Delia. He thought Delia was her mother. When people made that mistake, Jessie usually just let things slide and tried not to complicate things by explaining that Delia was not her real mother. But for some reason she felt like she had an obligation to tell James the truth about her family situation. She looked down uncomfortably.

"Um, she's not my mother..." Jessie mumbled.

James stopped drinking his milkshake and looked at Jessie. He too began to feel a bit uncomfortable, having obviously touched a tender topic for Jessie. He didn't know whether to keep talking or press any questions.

"Oh..." was all he managed to get out.

Jessie lifted her head to make eye contact with James. "...I never knew my father, and my mother died in a car crash when I was seven. The lady you met this morning is my aunty. Her and her husband took me in and I live with them and their son." Jessie watched as James digested this information. She found herself wishing more than anything that he would not judge her or be scared away by this revelation, like so many other people had. She smiled melancholically.

A strange look fleetingly flashed on James' face, and Jessie wondered for a moment whether it was a flash of understanding. Outside of her family, she had never seen that look before, not even in Vanessa. It was only a brief expression, but in that second Jessie had seemed sure that James somehow understood more than what Jessie had told to him.

"I'm sorry," was all he said, and he turned back to his laptop.

The installation was completed, and the pair continued with the work on their assignment. They worked for almost another hour before finally deciding to call it a day. Each piled together their books and bits of paper and before they knew it Jessie and James were standing on the footpath outside of Hutchy's.

"How are you getting home?" Jessie asked James.

"I can take the bus pretty much all the way home, and then I just walk the rest of the way," James replied.

"Yeah, that's about the same with me."

James laughed, "It's always usually a bit of a struggle for me to go anywhere by foot or public transport. My parents insist on me being driven everywhere by one of the chauffers." He looked up at Jessie, a little ashamed by his pitiful story.

Jessie gave an expression of amused sympathy, but decided not to continue the thread. "So... in which direction are you travelling?"

"East... I... live in Frangipani Hills," James said, in the same tone as before.

Frangipani Hills... Jessie didn't expect anything less. Of course, Frangipani Hills was _the_ rich suburb of Spire City. "Well, we're getting on different buses, but we both have to wait at the same bus stop. We may as well make our way down there now - there's no use hanging about on the footpath all day long." She turned and the pair started walking together.

"How did you find out where I lived, anyway?" Jessie asked James.

James smiled. "I rang up the school and asked the secretary to find it from the school directories. She wouldn't let me at first, so I made up this big sob story about an assignment that was due in on Monday that we would fail if I couldn't get to your house. Only a _slight_ tweaking of the truth, of course..."

Jessie laughed incredulously. More and more sides of James were being uncovered by the minute!

"Actually, I was surprised anyone was even there on a Saturday. I would have thought all of the staff would get away from the school as quickly and for as long as they could on weekends. They must be more dedicated than we give them credit for."

The pair crossed a road and Jessie let out a cry to see her bus just pulling into the stop. "There's my bus!" She hailed to the driver to let him know that she was getting on. "I better get on... those bus drivers can get really cranky sometimes," Jessie said to James, turning around to face him. "I'll see you on Monday."

James smiled and nodded.

Jessie was about to turn around and leave, but on impulse decided to thank James for the afternoon. "Hey James... I just wanna say thanks for coming around to the antique shop... and for this afternoon, and all..." Halfway through saying it, she already felt like a complete idiot for even opening her mouth again.

"No worries," he said, and Jessie could tell that he was happy with the day as well.

Jessie quickly ran to board the bus, and James watched as it pulled out from the kerb and disappeared through the traffic.

Jessie went to open the front door of her house, yet it was opened by someone from the other side before she even laid a finger on the doorknob. Standing in front of her were Misty and Ash.

"Hi Jessie," said Misty.

"Hey," Jessie replied, suddenly remembering Ash's little hangout he was having that afternoon. "How was the game?"

Misty smiled. "It was really great, thanks." The orange-haired girl stepped past Jessie and onto the lawn. "Thanks for the afternoon, Ash. It was really nice," she said to Ash, who had stepped out to stand beside Jessie.

"We should do it again sometime," said Ash, his grin taking up the whole of his face.

The other girl stood smiling at Ash for a few seconds, made slightly awkward by the presence of Jessie, before suddenly turning to walk out onto the footpath. She waved to the two Ketchums who were standing on the steps leading to the front door, and soon disappeared from view.

Jessie looked down at her cousin, though not by much. In another year or two he'd be towering over her. She smiled deviously. "How was your afternoon?"

Ash looked back with an equally sly smirk. "Good. How was yours?"

Jessie turned around and twisted the doorknob to go inside. She looked over her shoulder at her cousin, who still had his eyebrows raised in wanting of an answer.

"Good."

* * *

Well, miracles do happen, don't they? Yes, I finally got around to writing the next chapter to this fic! Woohoo! I am so sorry for the extremely long wait, but I have just been so busy with homework, it is not funny. But I'm really determined to get as much work done as I can on this fic during the next few weeks, so hopefully I'll get some more chapters written soon. Don't worry! I will not abandon this fic to be left unfinished, with readers eternally wondering what ever would have happened in the unwritten chapters! Plus, I'm a bit more motivated to write lately seeing as I WON MY VERY OWN LAPTOP (go me!)!!! Woohoo! So now I can sit in bed until eleven o'clock on a school night to finish chapters (which is currently what I am doing right now). Gosh, the things I do for fanfiction!

Anyway, please review this chapter if you've read it, because reviews are so greatly appreciated by me. All you readers need to tell me what you think!! Is the story going okay so far? If there's anything I could do to make it better, tell me!! Plus, reviews are really good for making authors write the next chapters faster... c'mon, you know you want to...

Stay tuned, and keep those reviews coming!

BansheeGirl

PS. If you're waiting between chapters, check out some of the other Pokemon stories if have written (all rocketshippy!) that are posted here on !


	5. Chapter Five

::Evolution::

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

Here is the fifth chapter to my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock – 15

Gary – 13

::Evolution – Chapter5::

Ash raised his hand and waved to Jessie as she disappeared across the school grounds towards the senior section of Spire City High. Ash laughed silently. Was it just him, or did Jessie actually look like she was in a hurry to get to the morning's classes? For a change, the pair had arrived at school considerably early, so it wasn't as though she really needed to be in any rush to make it to class. There had to be something else causing Jessie's haste, and Ash didn't doubt it was the same thing that had kept Jessie in such a perky mood all weekend...

Ash began walking towards a different entrance into the school, and turned his thoughts to his own motivations for leaving home a little earlier that morning – Misty. Ever since Saturday afternoon he had been on a permanent high; nothing could seem to bring him down. Hanging out with her for those couple of hours had only created a more perfect image of the orange-headed girl than ever before. He was surprised at how easily they had gotten on with each other – after finally getting over the initial nervousness of the situation of course.

He had felt so comfortable with her that afternoon that Ash had come within seconds of actually asking her to the school formal, but alas, Misty had decided it was time to leave at the exact same moment. So Ash had made it his mission to again work up the courage today at school, and finally ask the girl of his dreams to attend the formal with him. Ash could almost see his heart thudding through his chest as it beat rapidly with the anxiety of the answer to come.

As he lifted his foot to ascend the stone steps into the junior section of the high school, Ash was jerked backwards by the collar of his shirt and roughly thrown against the adjacent outside wall. Looking directly into his face were the eyes of a boy Ash's age with spiky brown hair. The boy tightened his grip on Ash's collar and pushed him up against the brick wall.

Ash struggled to speak with the boy's fist pressing against his voice box. "Gary Oak," he managed, "What do you want with me?"

Gary slit his eyes. "What do I want with you?" He said, menacingly. "I'll tell you what I want with you, punk."

Ash could feel small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Gary had him pressed up against a wall cornering the high set of steps leading into the school. Nobody saw the ordeal that was occurring as they absent-mindedly walked up them. Either that, or everyone simply chose to ignore what was gong on below.

"I want you to stay away from my girl, that's what," said Gary in a dark tone. "Do you understand?"

Ash didn't reply. Gary was Misty's ex-boyfriend – the guy that had prevented Ash from being able to ask Misty out in the previous semester. But they had broken up over the holidays. Who did Gary think he was calling Misty "his girl"?

Gary didn't take too kindly to Ash's lack of response. He pushed harder against Ash's throat. "Do you understand?" He growled, warningly.

Ash was rasping for breath. If Gary didn't let go soon Ash thought he would pass out from lack of oxygen. "Y-yes," he croaked.

Gary released his grip on Ash's shirt but didn't move from his stance. Ash was forced to remain pressed against the wall.

"If you keep messing around with Misty, you'll wish that you had never lived," the brown-haired boy threatened. "Stay away from her, punk."

Ash was still gasping for air as Gary swiftly exited the scene. Suddenly Brock poked his head over the stone siding of the steps that were concealing Ash from view.

"Ash, I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Brock descended the steps and walked around to his friend. The older boy frowned as he noticed the strange red marks on Ash's neck. "Ash, what's going on?" He said, also realising that Ash was slightly out of breath.

Ash quickly straightened his collar and tightened his tie to hide the marks that must have resulted from his little disagreement with Gary. He picked up his schoolbag which had fallen to the ground. As he walked around and up the steps, Brock joined his side and waited intently for his friend's answer.

"I just had an encounter with Gary Oak," Ash said, unsmiling.

Brock's eyes widened. Gary Oak wasn't renowned for being a vicious bully or anything – he simply didn't like it when things didn't go his way. And everyone knew that when Misty decided to break it off with Gary, he didn't exactly take things too well.

"Oh great... what did he say?" Brock said, knowing very well that Ash was probably beginning to feel the fall from his high.

Ash glowered at Brock's tone. He made it sound as though this was the end for anything Ash had hoped for with Misty. "He basically told me that if I go near Misty then he is going to make me wish I was never born."

"Ouch," Brock replied resignedly.

"...I don't care," Ash said, sternly. "Misty isn't Gary's girlfriend anymore. He can't tell either of us what to do. If he doesn't like me being around Misty – tough."

Brock looked at Ash as though he were an escapee from the loony-bin. "Are you crazy? Gary will beat you to a pulp. Seriously Ash, be careful. "

Ash eyed his friend. Brock was right about one thing. Gary would beat him to a pulp, but even that didn't stop Ash wanting to be with Misty. As the bell sounded for the morning's classes to begin, Ash shoved Gary's words to the back of his mind. He didn't want to think about that right now. He had geography first period, and Misty shared the class with him. And Ash was still determined on getting that answer...

* * *

Jessie ran down a corridor clasping her books to her chest. How had this happened? She and Ash had left home earlier than usual that morning, and yet Jessie was late for class. She had a double period of English that morning and had wanted to be one of the first people to sit down in the room – that way when James arrived she'd be able to see if he would sit down next to her. Unfortunately Jessie had gotten caught up talking to one of her teachers in the hallway, and before she knew it the first bell was ringing for classes to start. Now it would be up to her to make the move – to sit next to James, or not to sit next to James?

As she neared her English classroom Jessie half-hoped that there would not be a seat left next to James. Sadly, Ms. O'Brien had a tendency to turn up to classes a little late, so most of her students didn't bother to arrive at class until several minutes after the bell. Even though Jessie was a little late, there would still be other students later than her, and several desks still available. Jessie sighed... why were things so complicated?

Jessie pushed the door open and stepped into the classroom. She looked around at the students slowly filling up desks. As she feared, only about half of the class had arrived, and James was one of them. And as she feared, there was a spare desk directly to the left of his. Jessie's stomach twisted. Should she go over ad sit next to him? She did not know whether they were just biology partners or... well, friends. Would he get the wrong impression if she sat next to him? Or would he think her a snob if she sat somewhere else?

She inhaled deeply and took a couple of steps towards the vicinity of James' desk. There was another spare seat a few back from James', so if her nerves got the best of her then she could always pretend that she was simply heading to sit down at the rear of the room. James had his eyes fixed on a book on his desk, and didn't look up as Jessie slowly approached. Not wanting to stupidly idle by James' desk, Jessie had to quickly make her decision. She squeezed her eyes shut, and swiftly slid herself into the desk to the left of her lavender-haired biology partner.

As soon as she hit the seat, Jessie was already feeling like a fool. What did she think she was doing? James was going to think she was some kind of stalker or something. Her eyes opened and Jessie forced herself to look sideways at James. Pretending to sit next to him by accident would have been simply ridiculous. Jessie was met with a warm smile from James as he closed the book he had been reading.

"Hey," he said.

Jessie hoped that he wasn't just being polite. She wanted the warmth in his expression and voice to be sincere. "Hey," she replied, and she could feel her face growing hot.

"How was the remainder of your weekend?" James asked, genuinely.

Jessie had turned back to face the front in an attempt to hide her crimson face. "It was good, thanks," she quickly said, fleetingly moving her eyes to look at him. She took a couple of slow breaths in order to regain some calm. "Yours?" She asked, when she felt her face returning to its natural shade.

"Not too bad, actually," he replied, and Jessie found herself smiling. She could not help it when she was with James. He had a way of making her feel light inside – a kind of giddy happiness that she struggled to control.

A blonde-haired guy sitting on the opposite side of James leant over and playfully punched his arm. Jessie presumed that he and James were companions, and she watched as the blonde guy said something to James that was just inaudible to her. He followed with a laugh, and James turned back to his desk. Jessie felt her heart skip a beat. Was James blushing? He looked very cute when he blushed. She wondered what the blonde guy had said to cause this response.

Her thoughts were cut short when Ms. O'Brien finally entered the room. Jessie looked around to discover that most class members had arrived by now.

"Good morning everyone," Ms. O'Brien said hurriedly, setting her things down on the teacher's desk. She quickly composed herself and was soon launched into the first class of the week.

Jessie couldn't help but steal one last glance at the boy sitting next to her, and she was surprised to see James lift his eyes to meet hers at exactly the same moment. Each smiled briefly before returning their attention to Ms. O'Brien, and Jessie knew that she had not done a bad thing by sitting where she did.

* * *

The second-hand on Jessie's watch seemed to be moving in slow-motion. There was half an hour to go until the bell would finally ring to signal the end of the day's second period. Double periods always seemed to last forever, and this one was no exception. Jessie tore her eyes away from her wristwatch and looked around the room. Everybody looked as bored as she felt. It wasn't that she didn't like English, Ms. O'Brien was currently reading aloud the novel that the class were studying. Everone was supposed to be silently following along with their own copies. Jessie sighed. Did Ms. O'Brien think that her year-twelve class could not read a book by themselves?

Jessie had read the book previously anyway, so she wasn't exactly missing out on anything as her mind wandered. She pulled a slip of paper out from her folder and picked up a lead pencil from her desk. Almost absent-mindedly Jessie began sketching – a habit she exhibited upon the onset of boredom. The pencil etchings soon formed a girl dressed in elaborate samurai clothing standing against a crescent-moon backdrop, an unseen wind carrying her long hair towards one side. The girl's eyes looked solemnly into the distance.

Jessie quickly looked up to see James leaning sideways from his chair towards her desk. His eyes rested intently on Jessie's drawing. For the second time that lesson, Jessie felt herself blush a deep scarlet. She did not think that he would have been able to see her sketch from his desk.

After moments of examination, James looked up at Jessie. He was still leaning towards her desk, and after realising how close he was, he straightened back up in his chair. His eyes still remained fixated on Jessie's.

"That picture is amazing. I had no idea you were such an artist," he said, the incredulity showing in his voice. He looked truly astounded by Jessie's talent.

Jessie grew even more self-conscious. "Oh... this, this... is nothing... really. Just a quick sketch." The two were careful to keep their voices to a minimum so as to not attract any attention from Ms. O'Brien.

James looked shocked. "A quick sketch! That is a beautiful piece of artwork."

"... You... you can have it, if you want," Jessie said timidly, holding out the piece of paper to James. She felt stupid as soon as she made the offer, but there was no going back now.

"I... I couldn't," said James, "Don't you want to keep it?"

Jessie shrugged. "I have a lot more at home. Plus, there's plenty more where that came from." She smiled weakly, and James paused before extending his arm to take the piece of paper. He gazed at it, still astonished by the sheer beauty of the picture.

"Thankyou," he said, smiling. Jessie watched as he carefully slipped it into his folder. She jumped in fright as the bell suddenly erupted from the loudspeaker at the front of the room. That half-hour had gone quicker than Jessie thought.

The classroom was immediately filled with the sound of students talking, papers ruffling, chairs being pushed in and footsteps as the door was opened and the English class poured out into the corridor. Jessie and James walked to the door side-by-side.

"I guess I'll see you in Biology then," said James.

Jessie nodded. They had Biology last period that day. "Probably, unless one of us fall ill to some fatal disease between now and then," she replied sardonically.

James laughed, and waved goodbye before disappearing into the tide of students in the corridor.

As Jessie escaped into the corridor herself, she found herself strongly yearning for the minute when the bell for last period would ring.

* * *

This time, it didn't really matter whether Jessie was late to class. She and James were Biology partners anyway, so nothing would look too suspicious if she walked into the room and immediately sat down by him. As it was, James hadn't even arrived when Jessie emerged into the classroom from fifth period. She watched the door in anticipation – maybe he really had fallen victim to a deadly virus since that morning?

Alas, the lavender-haired youth soon appeared at the door, looking quite healthy. He did seem a little flustered, Jessie noticed.

James seemed to rest against the door frame for a few seconds before spying Jessie, and instantly strode over to pull a spare desk up against hers.

"Mr. Livingston hasn't come in?" He questioned firstly, sliding breathlessly down into his seat.

Jessie shook her head, a confused expression wordlessly conveying her puzzlement at James' state.

James laughed. "Whew, that's okay then. I just had Mathematical Methods in a classroom all the way up the other end of the school. Plus, I had to go and get a book I accidentally left in my locker, so I've run a mile just to get here. I'm exhausted!"

Jessie laughed as James slumped down in his chair, letting his head fall back to face the ceiling. He quickly straightened when Mr. Livingston entered the room a few moments later.

"Afternoon everyone. We'll just be working on our assignments again today, so if you haven't already, please pull your desks together and begin straightaway," the teacher announced.

Jessie and James, having already placed their desks side by side, pulled out their assignment to resume work on it.

"Oh, and one more thing," Mr. Livingston added, and the room quietened, "I am setting the due-date for these projects as Friday. If it is not in to me by the end of Friday's Biology lesson, you will fail – no exceptions."

Cries of dismay escaped from several students in the room at the less-than-a-week-away deadline for the assignment. Jessie and James turned to each other with eyes wide.

"Friday..." Jessie murmured. "We'll have it done by then, won't we?" It was a true question. She really did not know if they would be able to get it all done by then.

James seemed to be calculating the equation in his head. "I'm not quite sure... let's just get as much work done as we can in this lesson and we'll decide where to go from there. Yeah?"

Jessie nodded. She watched as James set up his laptop and continued with the typed work of their assignment. Her current job was drawing a diagram of the human evolutionary chain – the teachers always liked it if you did your own diagrams and pictures in assignments, rather than simply using print-outs from the internet or photocopies from books.

As she resumed with the already half-drawn diagram, Jessie's mind began to characteristically wander. The assignment was due on Friday... that would mean that Jessie and James would cease to be Biology partners. There was always the next assignment of course, but even then it would be unlikely that they would be paired together again. They would always see each other in both Biology and English... but would they be anything more than just passing classmates?

Jessie saddened a little. She was surprised to discover that she wanted more than anything to keep in contact with James. But did he feel the same way about her? After all, they hadn't even known each other for a whole week. He probably hadn't even thought twice about having any friendly association with her after the assignment was handed in. If only there was some way that Jessie could distinguish just how James felt... whether he too experienced a strange connection every time they were together...

Jessie stopped herself. This was so unlike her. Wasn't she supposed to be the independent woman? The hater of all things stereotyped and superficial? The cynic of any possibility of sincerity in all guys at Spire City High? How had she let herself become so... so... infatuated? Nobody had ever made her feel like this before, and Jessie suddenly became aware of the drastic change that James had caused in her.

Jessie's eyes fell onto a piece of paper poking out of her folder. It was the first page of her and James' assignment – the definition of evolution.

"_The continuous genetic adaptation of organisms or species to the environment by integrating agencies of selection, hybridisation, inbreeding, and mutation."_

It wasn't this definition that captured Jessie's attention, however. Her and James had included another, much more general description of the word on the same page –

"_Any process of formation or growth; development."_

Was Jessie evolving? Was this peculiar change that James had brought about in her a type of growth, or development? Or was she simply receding back in time to the days of a typical smitten teenager? Jessie's head ached with confusion. She decided to stop thinking so much, and tried to concentrate on the diagram at hand.

The last period of the day passed relatively quickly, and soon the class was packing up for home time. Jessie turned to James as he finished pushing his desk back to its original position in the room. "What do you think?"

James flipped through the pages of their assignment that they had already completed, and then at the criteria sheet that Mr. Livingston had given to everyone. "We have four more periods of Biology this week before the assignment has to be in," he started, looking at Jessie speculatively, "We've got a fair bit done, but I think that we're going to have to put in a bit more extra time."

Jessie nodded in understanding. She was willing to donate extra time if it meant a good assignment.

"What do you say about coming around to my house tonight for a few hours? We should be able to get a substantial amount of work done, I think."

Jessie's heart beat fast. He was asking her to his house? She breathed deeply in an attempt to prevent her face from turning scarlet. James had an unsure look on his face, and Jessie had a feeling that he was just as nervous about the situation as she was. She forced herself to speak.

"Um... okay, I guess. Will that be okay?" She said softly.

"Of course! I wouldn't have asked you otherwise," James said with a smile, loosening up.

Jessie smiled back, nervously. She was going to his house!

"I'll meet you at the front gate in ten minutes then," said James, as they headed towards the door.

Jessie agreed, and before she knew it they had parted and she was swiftly on her way to collect her bag from her locker. Out at the front gate, she had to first find Ash and tell him to inform Delia that she would be home a few hours late that night.

"Ash!" Jessie shouted through the crowd of students milling around the front gate. Her spiky-haired cousin, a few metres away, turned to spot her. He waved in response.

"Hey. I have to go and do some extra work on an assignment at my Biology partner's house, so would you be able to tell aunty Delia that I won't be home for a few hours?" Jessie said to Ash as she finally sifted through the people to stand by him.

Ash expressed a look of suspicion at his older cousin. "I presume this Biology partner is the James you've been talking about at home? What kind of 'extra work' are you going to be doing, exactly?" He said mockingly, a sneer playing over his face.

Jessie punched the younger boy in the arm, exerting just enough force to convey her point. "Watch it, kiddo. Just tell her, okay?"

Ash laughed, rubbing his arm. "Okay! Got it. Misty's coming over this afternoon anyway, so at least I haven't been deserted completely."

Jessie only just realised Ash's orange-headed crush standing right beside him. "Misty! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"That's okay," Misty laughed.

Jessie was quite surprised. Ash wasn't doing too badly for himself. Only last week he had been petrified of just speaking to the girl. "What, I'm deserting you now am I?" she interrogated light-heartedly.

Ash sighed exaggeratedly. "Just get out of here," he laughed, and they bid their farewells. As Ash and Misty disappeared, Jessie turned to see James waiting for her a few metres away. She walked over.

"Who was that?" James asked.

"The people I was just talking to?" Jessie queried, and James nodded. "The boy is my cousin – the one I live with. His name is Ash. The girl's name is Misty. I don't really know her, but she's Ash's current infatuation."

James smiled amusedly. "I see."

"Um, how are we getting to your house?" Jessie questioned, looking around for a sports-car or something that looked like a mode of transportation James would have.

James began walking out and down the footpath, and Jessie followed. "Franz – he's one of our chauffers, usually parks a little way down here."

The pair soon stopped at a long, black limousine. Jessie's eyes widened. James opened the door for her. "Ladies first," he said, motioning for her to get in. She wordlessly climbed in and slid across the seat. James slid in next to her and shut the door.

"Afternoon, Master James," greeted a man sitting in the front section of the car. He looked about forty, and was wearing a very formal suit. His words entered the rear section through the open sliding window of the divider between the two compartments. "And who is this lovely young lady we have with us today?"

"This is Jessie," James said, able to look at Franz in the driver's rear-view mirror. "She's my Biology partner and we're going to do some extra work at home on an assignment tonight."

"Well then, nice to meet you Miss. Jessie," said Franz, smiling at her before turning his attention to the drive back to the Morgan Estate.

Jessie smiled and blushed slightly. A limousine? Being addressed as 'Miss Jessie'? She found it hard to believe that this was what James' life was like everyday.

James opened a cupboard in the wall of the back compartment, which turned out to be a refrigerator. "Would you like a drink?" He asked.

Jessie's eyebrows rose. This was getting better by the minute. She nodded.

"Orange juice okay?" James enquired, and proceeded pouring the juice into two champagne glasses after another nod from Jessie. "Sorry about the glasses, but that's all that they keep in here." He handed one of the glasses to Jessie.

She took a sip from the sparkling crystal flute. "That's okay."

* * *

Two hours later, Jessie set her pen down on James' desk and stood up from her chair to stretch. They had arrived at James' house – no, mansion, and ascended several flights of stairs to finally get to James' humongous room. Jessie was still awed by the absolute giganticness of the whole Estate. There were maids and butlers bustling about everywhere, all whom addressed James as 'Master'. James' parents were currently out, which James admitted was a good thing. Otherwise, he said, Jessie would have been interrogated for _at least_ an hour, his mother and father wanting to know every last detail about this new girl their son had brought home.

They had worked pretty much non-stop since arriving at James' room. Jessie conceded that coming here after school was a good idea – they had gotten a lot of work done. Now, however, she felt her brain tiring, and began to walk around the room peering at all of James' belongings. A shelf against one wall was crammed with trophies, medallions and framed certificates. Most of them were for academic achievements, but there were a few James had been awarded for participating in leadership programs and the like. Jessie was amazed at just how many awards there were.

She continued around the room, and was even more fascinated by a wall against which James had pinned maps of all different countries, and posters of famous scenes and landmarks from all around the world.

"That's my dream," came James' voice from behind Jessie. She hadn't noticed that he too had gotten up from his chair. "I want to travel all over the world. I want to see every single one of those places, and more," he said, gazing up at the wall.

"You want to travel?" Jessie queried. She had always wanted to travel to far off places as well.

"Definitely. I'd love to start as soon as I've finished school. You know, work as I go sort of thing. Just pick up part time jobs in different countries and explore that region before making enough money to move onto somewhere else."

Jessie gazed at James. "Why don't you?"

James sighed. "My parents have no intention of letting me doing anything like that until I've been to University and gotten a degree in either Medicine or Law. They have... big expectations of me. To defer University to them would simply be a disgrace."

Jessie stared at James. A sorrow seemed to descend upon the room. How could James' parents deny their son of his dream? Jessie began to understand why James didn't view his life as all that crash-hot. "That... kinda sucks," she stated.

"Tell me about it," he laughed, dryly.

"Don't you ever just feel like rebelling? Doing something that _you _want to do?"

James smiled to himself. "I am right now," he said, looking up at Jessie.

Jessie's heartbeat quickened. What exactly was he suggesting? "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sorry to say, but you're not the typical kind of girl that my parents like me bringing home. Don't be offended, or anything," James said, truly meaning it, "but they kind of prefer me associating with people-"

"More like Cassidy Fleckman," Jessie finished, knowingly. James smiled grimly.

"Yeah. So me bringing you here was a bit of a rebellion for me. Even though we're just Biology partners," he quickly added.

Jessie didn't know whether to feel flattered by the fact that he 'rebelled' to bring her home, or shattered that he referred to them as 'just Biology partners'.

A pause followed, before Jessie decided to ask a daring question. "Have you ever dated Cassidy?"

She watched intently as James processed the question. "Yes," he replied. Jessie found herself somehow not surprised. "Our families are quite close," he continued, "and we kind of spend a lot of time together. It was only for a couple of months, but I decided I liked her better as a friend. So that's all we've been ever since."

Jessie frowned. She just couldn't get over the fact that someone as nice as James could call Cassidy Fleckman a friend.

"She's not that bad you know," James started. "You just have to understand that her life is just like mine – filled with great expectations and regulations that have to be followed."

Jessie, for the first time since calling a truce the other morning at the antique shop, shot daggers at James. It happened before she could even stop herself, but anyone defending Cassidy like that made her blood boil. "Don't even try to make me believe that girl is a good person. We agreed to disagree, and let's just leave it at that."

James quickly snapped shut his mouth, taking heed to Jessie's warning. He racked his brain to find something that might return the mood to something a little cheerier. "So... uh, what other subjects do you study at school? I just do all of the boring ones – English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics. A lot of hard work and not much fun, but hey, only the best." James smiled grimly again, signalling another downer of living in such a prestigious family.

Jessie's expression softened, and she again felt pity that James had to live a life of such expectations. "I do English and Biology, as you know," she started, "General Mathematics, Studio Arts, Theatre Studies and Music Performance."

"Music Performance?" James repeated. "What instrument do you play?"

"...The piano," said Jessie, blushing. She didn't know why, but her talents always made her a little embarrassed.

James' face lit up. He grabbed Jessie's arm. "Come with me – I have something to show you." With that he half-ran out of the room pulling Jessie along with him. The pair ducked in and out of rooms and corridors before finally entering an extremely high-ceilinged room.

"This is the ballroom," stated James, as Jessie stared, astounded at the absolutely stunning room before her. She could almost imagine it filled with men and women dressed in the finest clothing, waltzing around to an old classical tune, a few non-dancers lining the wall drinking champagne and merrily chatting. James led Jessie up a couple of steps onto a dais in the corner. Upon it was a beautiful white Grand Piano.

Jessie gasped.

"It's magnificent!" She ran around to the front of the piano and sat down on the stool. She lightly slid her fingers along the ivory keys, making sure not to exert any force that would actually elicit a sound from the brilliant instrument. James sat down next to her.

"Will you play something?" He asked.

She turned to look at him, and smiled. "Any requests?"

James looked deep in thought. He could have named a typical composition of Beethoven, Mozart or someone of the like, but decided to try something a little more recent. Plus, this was one of his all-time favourite bands. "Do you know any R.E.M. songs?"

Jessie beamed. "Good choice." She was utterly thrilled about being able to play on such a beautiful piano, that even _Three Blind Marills_ would have satisfied her. She turned back to the piano and exhaled, seeming to compose herself before pressing down on the keys. With a quick movement of not only her hands but her entire upper body, the piano came alive with one of James' favourite R.E.M. songs - _Nightswimming_.

He watched as Jessie's hands danced over the keys as if they had a life of their own. The tune was being played exactly as R.E.M. performed it, and James was almost able to hear the song words as Jessie progressed through the music. He felt the hairs on his neck stand on end – if the piano itself was beautiful, then Jessie playing it was purely majestic.

The song soon drew its close, and Jessie's hands slowed on the keys. She pressed down firmly to sound the last note, and turned to James as it continued to resonate throughout the ballroom.

"...That was... so amazing," said James, transfixed. Their faces were mere inches away and he couldn't shift his gaze from her sparkling sapphire eyes.

Jessie found herself mesmerised as well. "...Thankyou," she said, the word finished in almost a whisper. Her heart thumped in her chest.

"James dear!" Jessie and James, snapped from their hypnosis, spun themselves around to see James' mother standing at the bottom of the dais.

"Mother! I didn't know you had arrived home," said James, standing up from the stool, with, Jessie noticed, a slight blush on his face.

James' mother smiled quaintly before speaking again in her thick, Southern accent. "We just got back. Your father and I have been over at Doctor Saunders' house. He's coming over for supper on Thursday night. He is considering taking you on for work experience during the summer holidays you know, James, so this is a very important occasion for you. Work at an actual doctor's practice will look very good on your application for University."

Jessie watched as James smiled rather falsely. His mother didn't seem to pick up on the lack of sincerity in the gesture.

"But we'll talk about that later!" The older woman continued. "You didn't tell me we were having company tonight!" She turned and examined Jessie, who was now standing up next to James.

"Yes, this is Jessie... We had to do some extra work on a Biology assignment so I invited her over," James started, "but she was just getting ready to leave." Jessie looked at James in puzzlement, but he shot a quick look of 'just go along with it' before motioning for her to follow him down the steps of the dais.

"Oh, I see," she said, eyeing the young crimson-haired girl suspiciously.

"It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Morgan," Jessie said over her shoulder as James ushered her out of the room. She didn't hear a reply from the older woman.

The pair moved quickly down a corridor. "Sorry about that," James said, "but she was getting ready to grill you there and then. I hope you don't mind."

Jessie smiled, "That's okay. Maybe next time, huh?"

James laughed. "Sure."

He took Jessie back to his room so that she could collect her belongings, before escorting her out to the front of the mansion. Franz pulled up in a limousine beside them.

"Franz will take you home. Sorry about rushing you out like that. It's not that-"

Jessie put a hand up. "-It's okay James, I understand." She smiled before opening the door of the limo and sitting herself down on the shiny leather seat. "Thanks James. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," he replied, as the door was shut and the long vehicle drove away to disappear through the tall gates leading out from the mansion.

Inside the limo, Jessie flopped backwards with a giant sigh to lie down on the seat.

"Is everything okay back there, Miss Jessie?" Franz's voice came from the driver's cabin.

Jessie touched her hand over her fluttering heart. "You know what? I think it just might be."

Franz turned the steering wheel to guide the car onto the main street, shaking his head in disbelief. Jessie didn't hear him quietly chuckling to himself.

* * *

Whew! That was a really long chapter! Hopefully that will keep everyone satisfied for a while! This story's really getting up and going. I am so happy!

Anyway, what is everyone thinking about _Evolution_ so far? I want to thank everyone who has reviewed any chapters of the story. You guys rock! Hopefully what I'm writing is quality stuff, so please review and tell me if you like it, if you hate it, or if there's anything I could do better! It will mean a lot to me!

I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Lots of reviews will probably make that happen even quicker! REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Pretty please?

Anyway, that's enough ranting for now. I'll catch you guys later!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl.


	6. Chapter Six

****

**::Evolution::**

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

Here is the sixth chapter to my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock – 15

Gary – 13

**::Evolution – Chapter6::**

Before opening the front door of her house, Jessie turned and waved to the black limousine as it pulled out from the curb and disappeared down the road. The tinted windows, of course, prevented her from knowing whether Franz had waved back.

Jessie entered the house and quickly poked her head into the kitchen where she knew Delia would be busily preparing dinner.

"Hey aunty Delia, I'm home," she greeted.

Delia looked up from the bench where she was chopping up some vegetables. "Hi hon, how did your studying go?"

"It was good. We got a lot done on the assignment, which is a relief. Mr. Livingston told us today that it's due in on Friday."

Delia smiled. "Well that's great. So you and James have sorted everything out, then?" Jessie wasn't sure, but there seemed to be a certain implication in her aunt's voice.

"Yeah, I guess so," Jessie mumbled, quickly retreating from the kitchen before Delia noticed the scarlet emerging on her face. Not in the mood to go up to her room to complete the dreaded maths homework she had in her bag, Jessie walked into the living room where Ash was sitting on the couch watching television. She dropped her satchel by the door and plonked herself down beside her cousin.

"Hey. How was your _extra study_?" Ash said, daring to say more than what his mother had hinted to Jessie.

Jessie's eyes widened. Why did everyone think that she and James were already 'more than friends'? Was the attraction she seemed to feel for him _that _obvious? She wouldn't have been so annoyed if James and her actually _were_ 'more than friends', but they hadn't even done anything!

Ash was met with a pillow in the face, and a deathly look from the fiery-haired girl. "Quiet, you," she threatened, a little seriousness in her otherwise playful tone.

"Fine, fine – I guess we'll talk about _my_ love life then," said Ash nonchalantly.

Jessie raised an eyebrow. A couple of afternoons with Misty and Ash was already getting a big head. She sighed exaggeratedly. "Alright Ash, tell me the latest news in your blossoming romance." An excessive roll of her eyes prompted Ash to throw the pillow originally slammed into his face into that of his cousin.

Jessie laughed incredulously, setting the pillow back down onto the couch. "Come on, tell me already," she said.

Ash crossed his arms and formed a knowing expression on his face. "Well, I asked Misty if she'd go to the formal with me," he started, trying to hide the absolute excitement from his voice in his attempt to convey an experienced character.

Jessie leaned forward intently. "...And?"

Ash grinned. "And... she said yes!"

Jessie couldn't help but feel an immediate happiness for Ash. He really had been stressed out about asking Misty to the formal. She didn't know how Ash would have reacted if his orange-headed crush had rejected him.

She reached forward and scruffed Ash's already characteristically messy hair. "Well done, Romeo."

Ash pulled away from Jessie's reach, but Jessie responded by jumping forward to grasp the boy in a giant hug. "Awww, I'm so proud of you!" She cried in a mother-to-baby voice.

Ash laughed in surrender. "Okay, okay!"

Jessie released her grip on him before standing up from the couch. "It's no surprise, really. In just the few times I've seen her I can already tell that she's head over heels for you."

Ash looked up at his cousin. "Really?"

Jessie smiled. "Really." She paused before going on, "Though, I don't know _what _she sees in you..."

The older girl narrowly dodged yet another pillow while swiftly exiting room. Grabbing her satchel, she headed upstairs to her bedroom and turned the light on. Jessie dropped the bag on the floor and fell back onto her bed, resting her head on the pillow.

_The formal_... Jessie's mind played on Spire City High's most anticipated annual event, and pushed her arms up underneath her pillow so that her hands rested beneath her head. She had always hated the formal, and in recent years had not even bothered to attend. Yet this time, Jessie was strangely compelled to make an appearance. If only a certain _someone_ would ask her to go with him...

* * *

Ash walked briskly down the steps leading outside from the cafeteria, his heart pounding with the very excitement of being able to see Misty. It was lunchtime the next day, and he and Misty had arranged to meet in the year-eight common room after eating lunch to spend the rest of the break together. Now that she had actually agreed to go to the formal with him, Ash's thoughts had initially wandered towards bigger things. He wanted to ask Misty to be his girlfriend, but decided to wait until after the formal before making that step. For now he was just delighted that she enjoyed spending time with him.

He pressed ahead in the direction of the junior section of the high school. Instead of heading towards the main entrance, Ash wove around the side of the junior block which would take him to a door leading directly into the common room. Little, did he realise, that there was somebody else who had anticipated this move and was waiting intently on Ash's arrival.

Ash's stomach tightened at the sight of Gary Oak leaning casually against the trunk of a tree, a group of his associates standing close by. Ash looked around, hoping that a teacher might be in the vicinity. Gary wouldn't dare abuse anyone in the presence of a prominent character. His grandfather was a respected researcher and if any esteemed person ever found out about Gary's aggressive behaviour, his family's reputation would not fare well.

Unluckily for Ash, Gary had again caught him in a place where teachers or any other adults hardly ever came. Ash walked on swiftly, his head down in a fruitless attempt to bypass Gary.

"Where do you think you're going, punk?" Gary called, pushing himself away from the tree and striding over to Ash.

Ash contemplated making a run for it, but as the other boys who were standing with Gary also began to make their way over, he knew that there was no escape.

Gary suddenly brought his arms up to give Ash a violent push. "I thought I told you to stay away from Misty?" Gary again pushed Ash, and Ash stumbled backwards. "And now what's this I hear about you taking her to the formal?

Ash stood wordless, rubbing his arm where Gary had pushed him.

"Answer me, loser!" Gary yelled, pushing Ash with increased force.

This time, Gary was shocked to receive an equally aggressive jolt from Ash in response. "That's right, I'm going to the formal with Misty. She's not your girlfriend anymore Gary," spat Ash, surprised at himself for retaliating.

Gary's eyes widened, and then narrowed to glare at the boy standing opposite him. He suddenly gripped Ash by the shoulders and jerked him forward so that their faces were mere inches apart. "You'll wish you had never opened your mouth, rodent," growled Gary, and before Ash knew it he was doubling over, clutching his stomach after Gary had brought his leg up to knee him in the gut.

Ash heard Gary and his followers laughing, while he stood helplessly bent over with pain. He suddenly noticed that there were other students standing several metres away, quietly observing the fight. Anger seemed to unexpectedly erupt from Ash, as the image of Misty again flared in his mind.

"Get over it, Gary! Beating me up isn't gonna make Misty like you!" He screamed, rushing towards Gary with a fist raised. Gary's teeth clenched as his opponent again had decided to bite back. But Gary had much more experience in fighting, and before Ash's fist had time to connect with any part of Gary's body, Gary lifted his own in an upper cut to Ash's stomach.

Ash reeled back, once again clutching at his stomach in a bent-over pose. One hit had been painful enough, but two blows to the abdomen made Ash feel like he wanted to throw his whole insides out. Focusing on his aching stomach, Ash did not see Gary's fist coming towards him again, this time connecting with the side of Ash's face.

The unexpected blow sent Ash sprawling to the ground, causing further pain to his newly-punched head by thumping it on the ground during the fall. Ash groaned, one hand clutching his aching stomach and the other reflexively covering the injured side of his face.

He opened the eye on the uninjured side of his face to see a couple of students standing in the growing group of submissive spectators move forward to either help Ash or attempt to stop Gary. Gary's minions, however swiftly intercepted them, physically holding the activists away.

"You should have listened to me, Ketchum. Here's what you get for messing around with my girl," Gary scowled, and Ash cried out in pain as Gary kicked him in the back, twice.

Ash tried to push himself up from the ground using shaking arms. His abdomen, face and back were throbbing with pain, and he didn't know how he was going to get out of this predicament until Gary finally decided he'd had enough. But as he opened his good eye to see Gary walking again towards him with fists balled, Ash dreaded the realisation that that might not be happening very soon.

And that was definitely not a good thing.

* * *

James struggled to push through the tide of junior students sweeping down the corridor. He cringed as two people ran, carelessly knocking several people over in the process, yelling at the top of their lungs. The junior section was always so much louder and rowdier than the senior section.

James, however, had to make a trip to the disorderly building every Tuesday lunchtime in order to take part in a student advocate program. He, along with several other senior students, had volunteered at the beginning of the year to act as advocates for some of the new year-sevens. The program involved becoming a sort of guide to a year-seven student to help in the transition process from primary to high school, and to help with any problems along the way. James considered the program to be a real drag most of the time – but it would look good on his application for university. Or so his parents told him.

Being the beginning of the second semester, most of the year-seven students had settled into high school by now anyway. But the contract at the start of the year had stated that the program had to continue all the way throughout the year. So unfortunately the lunchtime sessions were still required to be run, even though nobody really had any problems to talk about.

James remembered that there was a door leading outside from the year-eight common room, which was fast approaching on his right. Instead of continuing his struggle through the crowd of students in the corridor, James quickly ducked into the year-eight common room and exited the building from there. He was relieved to have daylight shine upon his face, fresh air to breathe and the ability to actually hear himself think.

He began walking in the direction of the senior block. James frowned when a group of students crowding around something came into view. A scene like this usually didn't mean good news.

James approached the group of students. As he came closer, a small gap had formed between a couple of kids. James was shocked to see a young boy whom he recognised as Samuel Oak's grandson walk up and kick another boy in the ribs who was lying on the ground. As the boy on the ground rolled over, letting out a cry of pain, James was even more shocked to see that the Oak boy's victim was none other than Jessie's younger cousin – Ash.

Upon this realisation, James quickly ran over to the scene. The students crowing around the fight looked up and promptly parted in order to let the year-twelve through. Gary's followers did not even attempt to prevent James from interfering. He was a year-twelve, had high authority, was popular and was of course extremely rich. It would be folly to mess with him. Like Gary, they had no interest in acquiring the public reputation of school bullies.

"Cut that out right now," yelled James, sternly. He seemed to grow in height, towering over the other students in a menacingly authoritative stance.

Gary looked up at James, a sickened expression appearing on his face. He had been caught.

James looked around at the other students still surrounding Gary and Ash. "Get out of here, you lot," he ordered, a severe edge to his voice. The students, including Gary's associates, rapidly scattered. James turned back to Gary.

"Bad idea, Oak. Don't think that the teachers won't find out about this." James felt nothing but repulsion for the young boy, and knew just how to elicit fear in him. "Not to mention your family."

Ash dared to open his good eye and look up at the two people standing above him. Just a minute ago Gary had been physically abusing him like there was no tomorrow. Now Ash's attacker was cowering at a few mere words from this lavender-haired saviour.

"Don't ever touch Ash Ketchum, or any other kid again, got it?" James pressed, inserting a little more venom into every word.

Gary tried to maintain a malevolent expression on his face, but it was evident that his insides were churning at the realisation that his payback was suddenly backfiring.

"Go it?!" James repeated, glaring at the brown-haired boy.

Gary hesitated before slightly nodding his head. He then swiftly spun on his heel and ran to disappear around the corner of the junior block.

James quickly bent down to help Ash up from the ground. He helped him hobble over to a bench near the tree where Ash had first spotted Gary.

Ash groaned. His whole body was aching.

"Are you okay, Ash?" James said concernedly, scanning the younger boy's body to see if there was any seriously permanent damage.

Ash paused for a moment, running his hands first over his stomach, chest, then what he could reach of his back, and finally his face. His fingers lingered over his left eye, which had already begun to turn an interesting purple colour. With some hesitation, he found that he could still actually open the eye. Ash looked at James.

"I think so. Just a few bad bruises, I think," Ash finally replied. As he moved himself on the seat to take a better look at his rescuer, Ash winced and clutched at his stomach again. "Make that a few _really_ bad bruises," he added, chuckling only slightly so as not to create any further pain in his chest.

James smiled with incredulity. "You'd still better visit the school nurse, just to be sure. You were getting pretty beaten up there."

A pitiful look appeared on the younger boy's face. "Please don't remind me."

"Why was he beating you up, anyway?" James questioned.

Ash closed his eyes, seeming to visualise an image in his mind. "I'm going to the formal with his ex-girlfriend... and he kinda doesn't like that."

James' eyebrows rose with disbelief. It was amazing what would tick some people off enough to go and beat someone to a pulp.

"Thanks, by the way," said Ash, turning to James. His face suddenly contorted, as if cogs inside of his head were finally turning to make a revelation. "Hey, you're Jessie's James, aren't you?"

James' eyes widened at being referred to as 'Jessie's James', and he was lost for words for a few seconds. "...Well, if you mean to say that I'm Jessie's Biology partner, then you are correct," he half-laughed, attempting to throw off his adulation at being named as a possession of Jessie's.

Ash's eyes stared at James with a peculiar admiration. "I didn't really know what to expect of the famed James Morgan. Well, I guess I can forgive her for talking about you so much, seeing as I kind of owe you now."

James tried to maintain a casual expression. What did Ash mean? Did Jessie talk about him at home? If so, in what way? James' heart pounded in his chest. He was about to press Ash for information about _what_ Jessie actually said about him, when a girl's voice caused both the boy's heads to turn to the left.

"Ash!"

James recognised the approaching orange-haired girl as Misty, Ash's 'current infatuation', or so Jessie put it.

"Ash, I just heard what happened! I'm so sorry!" She said, running over and sitting on the seat beside Ash. She wrapped her arms around the younger boy, continuously apologising.

"Ouch!" Ash cried, as Misty knocked against his sore chest. "Careful Misty!"

Misty launched into another round of apologies, before Ash was finally able to calm her down.

"It's okay Misty! Everything's fine now!" He soothed, silently laughing at the fact that he was the one comforting her.

"Where's Gary now? That scumbag, I can't believe he'd do something so rotten!" She exclaimed.

"James here," Ash said, motioning to the older boy sitting next to him, "took care of everything. Hopefully Gary won't bother us anymore."

Misty smiled at James. "Thanks James, we owe you one."

James laughed, standing up from the bench. "So I've been told. Just make sure he gets to the school nurse, okay Misty?"

Misty nodded. "I'll take care of him."

"Hey, thanks again James," Ash said sincerely.

As the school bell suddenly sounded, James waved to the young pair before leaving them to it. He laughed to himself, catching a few words that were uttered by the year-eights behind him.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all this, Ash. It's all my fault."

"Misty, it's okay, trust me! Any pain was worth it for you, anyway."

* * *

Jessie sat at her desk, only half listening to what Ms. O'Brien was saying at the front of the room. It was fifth period that day, and she was in for yet another double period of English. Jessie had been silently excited, and also quite nervous about being able to see James since going to his house the night before, but peculiarly, he had not turned up to class yet. She found herself worrying about him – had he gotten sick? Her stomach tightened at another thought – maybe he was avoiding her?

Her worries were put to rest when a lavender-haired figure appeared at the door. Ms. O'Brien stopped talking and turned to look at James.

"So, you decided to join us this afternoon, Mr. Morgan?" She queried, peering over the rims of her glasses.

James scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Ms. O'Brien. I got caught up in a bit of an... issue," he said quickly, glancing around the room to find a spare desk. There was one right by him, but James strode over to a spare one beside Jessie without hesitation.

Jessie smiled at him as he slid into the seat. She noticed James' eyes darting from her to Ms. O'Brien, who had resumed talking at the front of the room, and realised that he had something important to tell her. Jessie raised her eyebrows at him, but James signalled for her to wait until the teacher set them to work.

Jessie turned back to face the front of the room. What did James want to tell her? ...Maybe he was going to ask her to the formal! Her heart quickened with expectation, and she silently willed Ms O'Brien to just set them to work already so James could finally talk.

Minutes passed before the English teacher stopped talking and arranged the lesson's work. As the room filled with sounds of papers ruffling and people talking, Jessie turned to James with a look of anticipation glowing on her face.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Ash got into a little trouble at lunchtime," James said, leaning over a little closer to Jessie so that he could talk at a quieter volume.

The glow on Jessie's face disappeared, and she immediately felt her insides knotting.

"What?" She started, the concern obvious in her voice, "... What happened? Is he alright?"

He motioned for her to keep her voice down. "Misty's ex-boyfriend decided to beat Ash up for asking her to the formal, or something along those lines. Anyway, I was luckily in that area of the school and broke up the fight. Ash was getting pretty beaten up, but he's relatively okay now. A few pretty bad bruises. Misty was going to help him to the school nurse to have everything checked out."

Jessie's eyes widened and her face seemed to turn a little paler. She slowly exhaled, trying to calm down all of the worries rushing about in her head. "Are you sure he's okay? Maybe I should go and see how he's doing," she began, still clearly troubled by this news.

James placed a hand on Jessie's shoulder, and she was astonished to find that his warm touch immediately began to calm her down. "It's okay, Jessie," he assured, "he's fine. You'll see him tonight after school. I just thought I should let you know so that you didn't faint out of worry when you saw him tonight with a black eye, among other things." He smiled, and Jessie's insides began to unknit.

James dropped his arm from her shoulder and turned back to his work. Jessie slowly picked up her pen. She stared at her workbook in front of her, her mind still mulling over the situation.

"You stopped the fight?" She finally said.

James stopped writing and turned his head to look at her. "Yeah. The kid who was bashing Ash up knew who I was, and how much trouble I could get him into. Just goes to show that status around here always beats brawn."

Jessie smiled, eternally grateful that James had been there to help Ash. "Thanks."

James laughed. "Well, I wasn't just going to stand around and let your cousin get killed, now was I?"

The pair returned to their work. Jessie started copying down the analysis questions from the board that had been assigned for the lesson, and thought about James. How had she stumbled across such a person? He just seemed to be getting better and better with each day. With just one look from him she could feel her whole body melting. He made her feel like a lovesick teenager from some teeny bop movie.

...And Jessie liked that feeling.

* * *

Alright!!! SIXTH chapter completed! I hope everyone's happy that I'm getting these chapters out a little faster than before. I'm working hard! Really, I am!

First of all, another big thankyou to EVERYONE who has reviewed all previous chapters to this story. You guys keep me going!

Second, I just want to apologise to anyone out there who is an avid Gary fan, and doesn't like him being portrayed as the bully in this story. It's not that I don't like Gary, honest! I actually do like him, but I just wanted someone from the TV series to fit the role, and thought that Ash's rival would be the best to fill it.

Also, a lot of people have asked me to include a lot more actual Pokémon in this story. I'm really sorry to all these people for not really including Pokémon in this fic. I'm not very good at it, actually. I really like writing more about the people from the show. In any case, I don't think I can just start putting them in now when I haven't done so in the last five chapters. I'm so sorry! I'll try and do better in my next fic!

Anyway, please review no matter what you think. I love any sort of feedback!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl.

PS. Did I mention it'd be really great if you'd review this story? o.O


	7. Chapter Seven

::Evolution::

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

Here is the seventh chapter to my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock – 15

Gary – 13

::Evolution – Chapter7::

Jessie slammed her books down on the desk. Angrily, she let herself fall down into the chair and let out an exasperated sigh. James looked sideways at her from the desk that was pulled up beside Jessie's, perplexed at this display of infuriated behaviour.

"Continue with your projects, class," Mr. Livingston directed from the front of the room, "I expect that most of you should be close to finishing. For those of you who are not... I suggest you get a serious move on. I remind you that these assignments are due in on Friday, and that is only two days away. Get to it!" The teacher clapped his hands twice as a signal to prompt the class into working mode.

James directed his gaze back to the troubled Jessie, who now had her elbows leaning upright on the desktop and was resting her face-down head in her hands. She had not yet spoken a word since entering the classroom for the afternoon's double-period of Biology. He had already seen and talked to her in an English class earlier that day, and he seemed to recall that she had been fine then. What had happened to make her so upset?

"Uh, Jessie?" He quietly asked, pausing to see whether she would respond.

"Mnhh," she mumbled, still resting her face in her hands.

"Are you okay?"

Jessie suddenly straightened, running her hands through her hair which was pulled into a messy bun at the back of her head. She spoke, trying to take care in not letting too much anger seep into her voice, "I just spent my whole lunchtime in a special class, alone, with my maths teacher, trying to understand _just_ the basic principles of the topic we're studying in General Maths at the moment, because I'm the only one in the class who just can't get it into their head." Jessie stopped, realising that her tone was quickly rising with fury. She took a few deep breaths, and smiled sarcastically. "And even after fifty minutes of one-on-one tutoring, I still don't have a single clue about how to do any of it."

She continued to smile sardonically at James. He raised his eyebrows at her, disbelievingly.

Jessie had gone back to clutching her head, but James reached out to hold her wrists down against the table. She did not resist. "Jessie, calm down." He said, holding her eyes with his own. "It's just a bit of maths."

Jessie's eyes widened, and she wrenched her arms out of James' grasp. "How can you say that? I am too useless to even begin to understand the damn topic, and I am going to fail the subject completely!"

James' eyes darted around the room to see that Jessie's outburst had attracted the attention of several other Biology students sitting around the room. He looked back to Jessie, leant forward and placed a single hand on her shoulder.

"Jess, you're not useless. You can do so many amazing things – like playing the piano and drawing those beautiful pictures. There's no need to get so upset for not being able to do one little maths problem."

Jessie wanted to fight back. She wanted to yell back at him that it wasn't 'one little maths problem', it was a whole topic that needed to be completed in order to pass the subject. But she was still mentally reeling from the fact that James had just called her 'Jess'. Jess! Only her closest friends and family ever called her 'Jess'. She had only known James for a week, and already he was using the abbreviated form of her name.

And that hand on her shoulder wasn't exactly the gesture of a mere Biology partner being nice. Jessie suddenly made her mind up – James _did_ think of her as a friend. But was it even _more_ than that? She remained speechless, James still holding her gaze, his warm hand not moving from her shoulder.

"What is the topic, anyway?" He spoke, and Jessie watched in dismay as James dropped his hand from her shoulder and straightened himself up to sit back properly in his chair.

She sighed, her anger seeming to have dissolved away. Now she only felt hopelessness in its place. "It mostly involves algebra." Her tone indicated her obvious detestation of the topic.

James mouthed an "Oh," understanding Jessie's disarray. Jessie stared at the desk, the bleakness of her situation forcing her into a blank reverie.

"I could... help you with it, if you'd like," offered James.

Jessie snapped her head up, wondering if she'd heard correctly. "Sorry?"

"Well, maths is actually one of my stronger subjects. I might be able to help you out with it, if you'd like. I don't know if I'd be able to do any better than you're maths teacher, but I could at least try and help." He raised his eyebrows, the serious look on his face signifying to Jessie that he was truly keen on helping her.

Jessie was silently stunned that he had again made an offer to spend extra time with her. Okay, so it was just to help with maths homework – but still. She was ecstatic that her interest in James seemed to be reciprocated.

Jessie opened her mouth to answer James, but Mr. Livingston's voice erupted in a slightly irritated tone from his desk at the front of the room.

"Jessie! James! If I hear another non-Biology related word from either of you before the end of school you'll both get detention!"

The pair blushed, even more so due to the direction of insinuating giggles at them coming from other students around the room. Quickly, Jessie and James pulled out their assignment and set to work on it straight away.

* * *

For the next two periods Jessie and James worked solidly at their assignment, breathing a sigh of relief when the final bell sounded. Jessie got up from her chair and stretched her arms out.

"We got a heck of a lot of work done," said James, standing up. "It's practically finished. We really only need to tie up a few odds and ends and then it's complete. What do you say we meet up during lunchtime on Friday before Biology and fix it up then?"

Jessie picked up the books and folders she had piled on her desk and clasped them to her chest. "Sounds great. It's such a relief to have finally gotten the majority of it all done," she said, immediately regretting her words. Did that sound like she was relieved she had almost finished up being Biology partner to James? She hoped not.

Jessie awkwardly looked to James, trying to decide whether she should mention James' offer that he had made at the beginning of the lesson concerning helping her out with maths. Even though she had been working steadily for both lessons, her mind had still mostly been focused on the prospect of spending more time out of class with him. But now it seemed as though James had completely forgotten about his proposal. Would she sound desperate if she was the one to bring it up again?

As the other students filed out of the room, Jessie and James remained standing beside their desks. Jessie shifted feet uneasily.

"So... did you want any help with your algebra?" James finally said, and Jessie found herself smiling. He hadn't forgotten.

"Well, if it's not too much trouble... that'd actually be really great," she said, trying to sound confident but without too much eagerness.

"Hey – it's no trouble at all, really. When do you want to do it?" James asked, as the pair slowly made their way together towards the door of the room.

"Well, the sooner the better... I guess," Jessie said, hoping she wasn't sounding too pushy.

James looked up, trying to remember which afternoons he had free that week. He had a pretty tight schedule. "I have an after-school Physics class this afternoon... but that really shouldn't go for more than an hour. What about tonight?"

Jessie nodded. "That's okay with me."

"Great," James said, smiling, "Where would you like to study?"

Jessie had thought about going to the public library, but impulsively decided to be a little more daring. "What about at my house?"

The seventeen-year-olds were still standing at the door, and paused the conversation to let Mr. Livingston out of the room. He gave the pair an odd look before disappearing into the crowd of students in the corridor.

James shook his head, not wanting to bother deciphering what that look just meant. "Okay, your house. I think I can find my way back there. Expect me at about five o'clock."

"I'll be waiting," Jessie said, relishing in the last smile James had flashed her before too disappearing into the typhoon of schoolkids flooding the hallway.

* * *

James walked up the stone steps leading to the door of the Ketchum house. As he pressed the doorbell, he noticed that his heart was beating a little faster than usual. The after-school Physics class had been exceptionally boring, and pretty much a waste of time since all James could think about was seeing Jessie afterwards. He had managed to get out early from the class, and as James glanced at his watch he hoped that Jessie wouldn't mind that he was half an hour ahead of the said meeting time.

Footsteps could be heard thumping through the house, and the big oak door suddenly opened to reveal a dark-haired boy with a very obvious and nasty looking black eye.

"Hey Ash," said James, an image of the poor kid being kicked relentlessly by Gary Oak flashing onto his mind.

Ash beamed, oblivious to the ghastliness of his appearance. "Hey James. Come in," he gestured, and James followed the younger boy into the house. The pair walked into a big living room, James' eyes scanning the inside of Jessie's home. Several doors led off from the sides of the living room, and a wide staircase led to the second floor before becoming a hallway leading in two different directions.

Ash walked over to a couch in the corner of the living room and plonked himself down on it to gaze intently at a brightly lit television screen. "Sorry, my favourite show is on right now and I really don't want to miss any of it," He said, his eyes not moving from the screen.

James' eyes glanced from side to side. Was Ash just going to leave him to walk about the house to find Jessie himself? Should he say something? Ash was obviously very rapt in his television program. James didn't know what to do. He was afraid that if he walked off to look for Jessie, the Ketchums might think he was snooping around or something. The last thing he wanted was for Jessie to think him a busybody.

James slowly wandered over to stand behind the blue couch Ash was sitting on. He looked to the television screen to see a Charizard and a Houndoom locked in fierce battle, their trainers yelling commands and encouragement from special raised trainer boxes.

"Uh, Ash?"

Ash raised a single finger in response, signalling for James to wait. A minute or so passed, before Ash finally turned around to face James. "Okay, commercial break. Sorry about that. Watching _Pokémon Stadium_ every night is like my religion."

James laughed. "That's okay. How are you feeling, anyway? Jessie told me you got everything checked out and there was no serious damage. Still very sore though, I presume?"

Ash nodded exaggeratedly. "You don't know the half of it. I thought yesterday was bad, but when I woke up this morning everything hurt twice as much."

"Still making an appearance at the school formal, then?" James provoked, knowing for certain that Ash wouldn't miss the formal for the world.

"If Misty still agreed to go with me, I'd go to the formal in wheelchair if need be," said Ash, typically. "What about you? Are you going to be making an appearance?"

James' eyes automatically fell to the ground with slight embarrassment, but he mentally scolded himself and forced them up to look at Ash again. "I'm not quite sure. I haven't got a date yet, so if I can get one between now and then, yeah, I guess I will."

Ash frowned, as if what James had just said made absolutely no sense at all. "But I thought-"

His words were cut off with the sound of a melodic voice coming from a room upstairs. Both boys looked upwards. James had noticed music playing as he walked in, but had thought it a mere CD playing somewhere in the house. Yet as the familiar voice floated downstairs, James realised that it had been Jessie making the music.

"Obviously Jessie didn't hear you come in," Ash laughed, "she never sings in front of anyone but her music class – and that's only because it's compulsory, and mum, dad and I."

James' eyes remained fixed upwards. He spoke slowly, his mind mesmerised by the beautiful tune coming from above, "...I should... probably go up there... or it'll be night-time before we even get started... on her maths."

The sound of _Pokémon Stadium _reappearing on the television grasped Ash's attention, and he spun back around on the couch to face the screen. "Okay. Her room is the third door on the right," he said in monotonous tone, the program quickly gaining his undivided attention.

James ascended the stairs and swiftly sidled along the banister which overlooked the living room below. As he approached Jessie's room he slowed, coming to a halt at her half-open door. James peered inside to see Jessie facing away from him at a keyboard. Just like at his house, her hands danced over the keys with ease, as if playing such an instrument was an innate behaviour for her.

Now that James was right at Jessie's door her words were clear, and he soon recognised the song that she was playing and singing to. It was a song by the band Evanescence, called _My Immortal_. Jessie still had not noted James' presence, and he leaned into the room to better hear the music.

James felt his skin tingle as Jessie echoed the haunting words of the song,

"_I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone_

_And though you're still with me_

_I've been alone all along..."_

James wondered whether the raw emotion that Jessie seemed to be injecting into the melody came from her personal relation to the words of the song. The melancholic lyrics sounded as though they'd match the heartbreak of losing a mother. James had never really taken a great interest in Evanescence, but right now he felt like going out and buying their whole album so he could play it over and over again in remembrance of this magical moment.

The room quietened as Jessie faded her singing and entered an elaborate keyboard solo. James proceeded to take a further step into the room, accidentally knocking the door completely open in the process. The sound immediately caused Jessie to wrench her arms away from the keys and spin around in horror to see James standing at the door of her room.

Her eyes widened in dismay at the discovery of James' spectatorship of her singing. "How long have you been standing there?" She said, her voice trembling. James watched as her face actually began to whiten. "I can't believe you just heard that!" She continued, her voice becoming frantic.

James sprang over to Jessie and placed his hands around her upper arms. He gently lifted her up from the seat, and stared directly into her sparkling sapphire eyes. "Jessie, that was the most beautiful thing that I have ever heard," he said, totally serious, "Don't you dare even _think_ about being ashamed or embarrassed about what I just witnessed. Okay?"

He made sure that Jessie could not look away from him, and she was forced to nod her head in agreement. James released his grasp, and the pair suddenly became awkward and stepped away from each other. Jessie turned around to switch off her keyboard, and wandered over to lean back against her desk.

"I thought you said that you weren't coming until five o'clock?" She said, frowning slightly.

James slid his bag off of his shoulder and dropped it at the end of Jessie's bed. "Well, I managed to get out from my after-class early. I'd hoped that it wouldn't be a problem..."

Jessie sighed. "It's okay. I know that I shouldn't be embarrassed or ashamed, but I just can't help it." She started to relax, and walked over to sit down on her bed. "It's just that... music is a kind of... I don't know, expression of my soul, or whatever. And I just feel a little uncomfortable baring my soul in the presence of other people..."

James walked over and sat beside Jessie on the bed. "Well in that case... I think you have a very nice soul."

Jessie lifted her lashes to look at James, and smiled. It was a very odd comment, but somehow it was the most charming thing anyone had ever told her.

* * *

James leaned in over Jessie's shoulder and pointed to a section of the textbook that was resting on her lap. They had been in Jessie's room together for almost an hour and a half now, and counting. After James' comment about Jessie having a 'nice soul', the pair had found themselves engrossed in a deep conversation, the topics ranging from school subjects, family matters, politics, films, music, hobbies and beyond.

They had talked about places they wanted to visit around the world, and were surprised to find that their travelling ambitions were quite similar. James had joked that maybe they could be travelling partners, and Jessie wondered whether the humour in his voice was due to the fact that his parents would never let him travel so extensively right after high school anyway, or whether it was a simply ludicrous idea that he would actually travel with _her_.

James had revealed that he collected bottle caps as a hobby. Jessie was delighted to hear that he hardly ever told anyone about his prized collection, and that she had become privy to this personal piece of information. Jessie had revealed that she had wanted to be a weathergirl when she was little – something which prompted a laugh from James. He meant no offence, but said that he saw her doing something with her life that actually required neural activity.

James had told Jessie about his parents wanting to betroth him to a wicked girl named Jessibelle. He had fought long and hard with his mother and father to try and convince them to forget about the betrothal, and finally they had agreed after James threatened that he would run away if they didn't. Jessie had told James about the perils of not knowing her father, but still knowing that he was out there in the world somewhere. She had contemplated many times trying to search for him, but every time Jessie was pulled back to the one thought – if he didn't want her before, why would he want her now?

All things considered, they had had a pretty deep and meaningful conversation. It was a long while before either of the pair admitted that they had better get cracking on the maths homework before the night was over.

Jessie had thought that there was no point in trying to understand any of it anyway. She could not comprehend any of the topic normally, and with James there, she thought she'd find herself even more unable to concentrate. Even while trying to teach her maths, he still made her heart futter and her insides melt.

Yet after only half an hour of tutoring, Jessie was astonished to find that what James was saying actually made sense. Instead of all the numbers, letters, equations, and formulas going in one ear and out the other like they usually did in class, James somehow had a way of actually making things stay inside of her head. She did not know how, but algebra was actually starting to sound logical!

What was the world coming to?

Now, James watched over Jessie's shoulder as she attempted to complete an equation that he had set out for her. Slowly, Jessie went over everything James had told her, and etched at the paper to finally come up with a solution. She looked at her final solution, amazed that she had actually been able to get to the end of a problem on her own. Now it was just a test to see whether the answer was right.

Jessie turned to James, a look of expectancy on her face. "Is... is that it? Did I get the right answer?"

James secretively looked at a seperate piece of paper on which he had previously worked out the problem. "Was your answer seven?"

Jessie looked to her piece of paper to double-check. Seven! That was her answer!

"I got it right!" She cried, her eyes widening and a wave of relief washing over her. She wasn't useless at it, after all!

"James, I got it right!" She cried, bouncing up and down on the bed.

James laughed, also relieved that Jessie had managed to overcome her problem. "Calm down! You're going to lose everything I've written down for you!" He cried, quickly catching a pile of papers that were bounced off the bed before they hit the ground.

Jessie suddenly bounced forward and wrapped her arms around James' neck in a big hug. "Thankyou so much James!" She exclaimed, and after passing through an initial shock at the forwardness of Jessie's gesture, James lightly slid his arms around Jessie's waist to return the hug.

"That's okay... I guess," he said into Jessie's sweet-scented hair.

Jessie became aware of the sudden action that she had just brought herself and James into. They were sitting on her bed, bodies pressed together and arms wrapped around each other. Quickly, she pulled away from the embrace.

"Uh... sorry," she said, trying to laugh in order to brush the situation off.

The pair remained at a gaze. While they had pulled apart from the embrace, their faces were still only mere inches away.

_Wait... _Jessie thought. Why was she pulling away? Hadn't she spent every minute since the weekend amazed at just how much she was enraptured with this guy?

And before she knew it, Jessie was leaning back in towards James. James too, was moving his head closer to hers. Jessie tilted her head sideways, with each second feeling the approaching warmth of his skin. Their cheeks brushed, and-

_Knock knock_!

Jessie and James snapped their heads apart and turned to see Delia opening the door and poking her head through to speak. "James, will you be staying for dinner, dear? Jessie's aunt queried, oblivious to the moment she had just interrupted.

Both teenagers were severely blushing. James quickly stood up from the bed. "Errr... I'd love to, Mrs. Ketchum, but... I had probably better get going. You didn't want to do any more maths work tonight, did you Jessie?" He said, more of a statement than a question.

Jessie stood up from the bed as well. "No, that's enough, I think. Thanks for your help," she was speaking very fast, and knew that Delia was suddenly realising that she had just intruded on something.

James picked his bag and smiled fleetingly at the two Ketchum women. "Well, thank you for the afternoon. I'll see you later."

Jessie hardly had time to respond to the farewell before James swiftly exited the room. Her and Delia remained silent until they heard the front door open and then close again downstairs.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I didn't think," Delia said apologetically. She walked over and put an arm around her niece's shoulders. "Are you and James... an item?"

Jessie looked helplessly at her aunt. "No! We weren't even doing anything. We haven't even done anything, at all. But... I think we were about to," she said, regretting that there was some bitterness showing in her voice. It was one thing for James' mother to walk in on the pair at an almost-kiss, but when it was her own aunty - ! Jessie now felt she was the one to blame for the interruption.

"Mum!" Ash's voice suddenly came from downstairs. "I think something's burning in the oven!"

A look of recollection suddenly appeared on Delia's face. "Oh no, the lasagne..." The chestnut-haired woman began towards the door. Before leaving, she turned back to Jessie, "Jess, I'm so sorry. But I know things are going to work out for you two, I promise." With that, she disappeared.

Jessie went back and sat on her bed, slightly dazed at the series of events that had just passed, and the one that had been a mere instant away from happening. She lifted her hand to touch the skin on her cheek that had so briefly brushed James'. She had almost kissed James. Jessie seemed to be able to recall every moment of the few seconds in which it happened, but one particular detail kept pressing itself into Jessie's consciousness – the fact that he had been moving in to kiss her as well.

And that's the seventh chapter finished!!! Yay!!!

* * *

Hope everyone liked this instalment! I'm starting to get these chapters out regularly now, which is good. I hope everyone is thankful (glares evilly at anyone who thinks otherwise)! Err, kidding! Heh, heh. Yeah.

Anywho, I'd really love for you to tell me what you think! Don't be scared, just drop in a review! Trust me, I won't bite! ...Hard. KIDDING! Again... yeah. Actually, _I_ might not bite, but the herd of crocodiles I have living in my bathroom possibly will. You might just wanna watch them.

I just wanna send out another BIG THANKS to everyone who has reviewed so far! Keep them coming! A special mention to Dawn, who recognises the absolute ROCKINGNESS (new word) of the band R.E.M., and Tear22 who has been with me throughout every chapter of _Evolution_. You are a CHAMPION!

Hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl.


	8. Chapter Eight

****

**::Evolution::**

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

Here is the eighth chapter of my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock – 15

Gary – 13

**::Evolution – Chapter8::**

"Would you like any caviar, James dear?" A slightly plump, greying woman, asked, smiling warmly from her seat across the table. She held a small, china dish of the black substance towards the lavender-haired boy.

James looked up from the yet-untouched dinner plate in front of him, and smiled. "No thankyou, Mrs. Saunders." Looking at the other people stationed around the long dining table, James was inwardly thrown by the contrasting way in which this woman acted.

It was Thursday night, and like James' mother had announced the previous Monday afternoon, he and his parents were at Dr. Thomas Saunders' house for a dinner party. The purpose for this visit, of course, was for James' parents to try and convince Dr. Saunders to give James a part-time job at his practice during the summer holidays at the end of the school year. After all, experience with a respected doctor such as Thomas Saunders would look _very _good on his James' application for University, should he decide to himself become a doctor. Otherwise, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan were already trying to scry out a lawyer who had some work that James could complete before University the next year.

The Morgan and Saunders family were not the only ones present, however. Cassidy and her parents were also situated at the food-laden table, as well as another couple who James had never met before. Of the ten people sitting at the table, Mrs. Saunders, who had now rested the caviar dish down and had turned back to her own meal, seemed to be the only one who was actually showing any sense of sincerity in her personality. She appeared to be a very happy and cheerful woman, and James admired the fact that she didn't let her family's extraordinary wealthiness restrict her from being kind to everyone.

As for the rest of the characters located at different stations around the table, to James they were all so obviously and painfully proper with what they said and how they acted that he had to stop himself from outwardly cringing. James was ashamed of the fact that he too, was putting on a careful show of appropriateness. As he poked at the gourmet meal in front of him, he spoke clearly with the adults around him about politics, arts, the _wonderful _subjects he was studying at school and other esteemed topics. James could not wait until the night was over, but the group had not yet even _begun_ talking about the prospect of part-time work at Dr. Saunders' practice. Cassidy was also vying for a position at the practice before University. James was unsure as to whether she really wanted the position, or like him, her parents were simply pushing her towards it.

James suddenly found himself thinking about Jessie. How different she was from all of these people! That was why he liked her so much. She was so _real_. She didn't care about whether he became a doctor or a garbage man. She didn't care whether he was filthy rich or dirt poor. Jessie was a girl who had passions. Not like collecting rare Pokémon skins, or betting at the ponyta races. But playing the piano, singing, and creating beautiful works of art. And she respected his interests – his true personality. Not the false one he was forced to portray in situations such as the one James was currently in.

He thought about the night before, when Jessie's aunt had walked in on the pair in what could have been a very compromising state. All the way home James had been in complete awe, not only about what had almost happened – but the comfortable way in which he and Jessie had talked, joked, laughed and worked together all afternoon. And then... then they had almost kissed. They had gotten so close that their cheeks had even brushed. James' heart quickened at the mere memory of the incident. He had not seen Jessie at school that day, but even if he had seen her, he did not know what he would have said. _Erm... yeah. Do you want to try and kiss again? _Even with the awkwardness that James knew would probably be present when he and Jessie met for Biology the next day, he could not wait to see the fiery-haired girl. He was surprised at the fierce longing he felt just to be with her.

"James?"

James was shaken from his reverie at the sound of Cassidy's voice coming from beside him. He looked to see her hand resting on his shoulder, her eyes wide with expectancy.

"...What is it, Cass?" He asked, hoping that nothing important had been conversed amongst the group while he had been spaced out thinking about Jessie.

Cassidy pointed to a woman standing behind James. James quickly turned to look at the traditionally-dressed French maid. "Have you finished your main course, Sir?"

James took a moment, and then laughed. "Oh, sorry about that," he said, apologising for his ignorance. Who knows how long the maid had been standing there asking if he had finished his meal. "Yes thankyou, I have finished."

As the maid leant in to lift James' plate away, James heard Cassidy quietly laughing in the seat next to him.

"What?" He said, smiling.

"You're hopeless, James. Honestly, I leave you alone for one minute and already you're off in another dimension." Cassidy leant to the side to let another maid set a bowl of dessert each in front of both James and Cassidy.

James leant forward to pull towards him a jug of thickened cream. He carefully poured the white fluid over his butterscotch pudding. "Well, you'd better fill me in on the current conversation, then."

Cassidy took the jug of cream from James and began to pour some over her own pudding. "Actually," she started, speaking in a hushed tone, "I haven't been listening either."

A look of mock-surprise appeared on James' face, and Cassidy strained to suppress a fit of giggles. Both were glad that they had someone to talk, laugh, joke and have fun with in such a world of expectancy and prestige. James thought about Jessie again, and wondered what on earth could make her hate Cassidy so much. But then again, James only really interacted with Cassidy at these types of get-togethers or functions, and only very occasionally at school. He suddenly realised that Cassidy could very well be a different person in other situations.

"So what other business is going on down at Spire City High School, you two?" The question came from Mrs. Saunders, and Cassidy and James both looked up, rather disappointed to be brought back into the most certainly dull conversation.

"Well, Mrs. Saunders," Cassidy started, "we do have the annual school dance this Saturday night. Everyone is looking forward to it. It should be a very enjoyable occasion."

James inwardly laughed at the swift change Cassidy had made from flippant teenager when talking with him to the very serious and mature young woman that was now conversing with the other adults at the table.

"Actually James," Cassidy said rather loudly, "I was wondering if you had a partner for the dance yet?" James noticed that her heightened volume had attracted the attention of all other eight persons present. All of a sudden James found that all eyes were upon him, wordlessly demanding his answer. He lingered on the idea that Cassidy had been waiting for this moment, when he would be pressured to give her the answer she wanted. Because of course James' parents, and indeed Cassidy's would want their child to attend such an event with a 'respectable' person.

James' stomach knotted. He had actually been planning to ask Jessie to the dance. He had been playing on the thought all week, but with the recent 'almost kiss' incident, he had been given a boost of confidence. James was set on asking her during the lunchtime the next day when they were going to meet before Biology. But now...

Nine pairs of eyes stared scrutinisingly at James, waiting for the answer. "No... I don't," he said, folding under the expectation.

A smile broadened on Cassidy's face. "I don't have a partner either, James. Why don't we go together?"

"Yes James, what a wonderful idea," James' mother said, "you will make a lovely couple." James looked at his mother. Her tone was innocent enough, but through her eyes he discerned the unmistakable threat of acting otherwise.

He forced a smile onto his face. "That sounds excellent," he said in response to Cassidy's proposal. With the answer, everyone returned to consuming their butterscotch puddings, the conversation morphing into a discussion about a recent rise in the stock market.

James looked down, pushing the remainder of his pudding aimlessly around in his bowl. He was going to the dance with Cassidy. How had this suddenly happened? Was his life going to continue with these situations, in which he'd without fail fold to his parent's expectations? Would he ever have the power to do what he wanted? To have what he wanted?

And right now, he just wanted Jessie.

* * *

Jessie waved to Vanessa, who disappeared into the throng of students shuffling through the corridor the pair had been standing in. Jessie spun on her heel and began making her way in the opposite direction, heading towards the library. It was Friday's lunchtime that week, and Jessie was supposed to meet James to fix up a few odds and ends on their Biology assignment before handing it in that afternoon.

As she neared the library, Jessie noticed her heart was rapidly thudding with the anticipation of seeing James. She had not seen him since the night they had almost kissed at her house. The dance was tomorrow night – Jessie was hoping with all her might that James would ask her to go with him. If not... Jessie did not know how she would react. They ceased to be Biology partners at the end of today. Without the dance to continue their friendship outside of this partnership, what would?

Jessie shook the thought from her mind and entered the library. She walked along the rows of tables set aside for students to work at, scanning for the lavender-haired figure. She soon spotted him sitting at a table, tapping at his laptop in a far corner of the room.

"Hey," she said, sitting down beside him. James looked up at her, smiling.

"Hey."

Both teenagers blushed profusely. After all, last time they had been together they had been locked in a close embrace, millimetres away from kissing. For a few seconds Jessie and James remained in a rather embarrassed silence, neither knowing whether to bring up the almost-pash.

James broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Uh, we should probably get this done...," he said.

"Right," Jessie quickly complied, getting out all parts of the assignment that she was carrying in her possession. The next fifteen minutes or so were filled with a frenzy of stapling, labelling, printing, cutting and other related activities in order to give their assignment the finishing touch. Jessie and James were making trips all over the library to use the stapler, printer and other library facilities, so there was not much chance for any discussion of the kiss, nor the upcoming dance.

Suddenly Jessie found her and James in a moment where both happened to be back at the table. Impulsively, she decided it was time she took the matter of the school dance into her own hands.

"So... do you have a partner for the dance tomorrow night?" She said subtly, while James was cutting out a diagram to stick onto one of the pages in their assignment.

James slowed his cutting, and nervously glanced at Jessie. He continued working the scissors, as Jessie waited intently for the answer and the certain question she expected to follow.

"Actually... I do," he said, still not looking at Jessie. "I'm going with Cassidy."

The pen Jessie was using slipped from her grip, creating a long black line that shot across the page. Jessie was sure that James did not have a partner. She had been certain. It had not even crossed Jessie's mind that James would have asked someone to go to the dance with him in the short period between them almost kissing (hello?!) and their meeting in the library that day.

And the fact that he had asked Cassidy made things ten times worse. How could he have asked Cassidy? Of all people to shatter Jessie's hopes, it of course had to be the one person that had already done it so many times in the past.

Jessie stared at the long black line that now marred the page she had been working on. "Oh," she said, still stunned.

"Are... you going?" James said, now looking up at Jessie. The crimson haired girl lifted her head to meet his eyes, and she had to blink several times to hide the tears she knew were forming.

"No, I don't really go to those sorts of things," Jessie said defensively, not wanting to let James know that she had been hanging out until the very day before the dance just to see whether he would ask her.

James paused, looking as though he wanted to say something but did not quite know how to put it. "...Jessie... ...you should come," he finally said. Jessie looked down to see that James had placed his hand on her lower arm. He looked at her longingly.

Jessie shook her head, still seeming to be trapped in a haze of sad confusion. She stood up, brushing James' hand away. "I need to go and print this page out again," she said, indicating the paper that she had just sprawled black pen across.

She walked away, making sure to situate herself at the furthest computer she could find from James. Her intention was to stay there until the end of lunchtime, only returning to the table with James when the bell had rung. The only downfall to this plan of avoidance was the inevitable fact that Jessie and James shared the next two periods together.

* * *

Jessie stared down at her textbook, not taking in any of the words she was reading. A few of the pairs in the Biology class had not quite finished their assignment, and since it was not due in until the end of the lesson Mr. Livingston had given them the rest of the two periods to get it done. As for the other students, including Jessie and James, Mr. Livingston had started them on the next topic's work – genetics.

However, the more Jessie tried to read about chromosomes and double helixes, the more she found herself not being able to soak any of it in. Her mind still seemed blank from the revelation that James had made during lunchtime.

James was going to the dance with Cassidy. Evil, conniving archenemy Cassidy.

Jessie didn't know how to react. She felt like a vessel of dull, melancholic emotion. Hadn't James had almost kissed her? Didn't that mean that he _liked_ her? How could he just go and ask someone else to the dance?! Jessie was filled with a sudden resentment for James. She was surprised at the feeling – normally this kind of resentment was mixed with anger. Pure, fiery anger. But right now the resentment was only accompanied with a deep sadness, and Jessie was struggling to deal with this new feeling.

Jessie's eyes fleetingly darted to James, who was sitting next to her. Throughout the lesson he had tried to casually talk or joke with her, but Jessie only replied shortly with uninteresting responses, or simply that she needed to do her work. She was not overtly angry with James, but Jessie knew that he had picked up on the hostility she now felt towards him.

Yet James seemed to have given up on trying to make friendly contact with Jessie, and had been silent for almost the past half hour. In this short time, Jessie found herself already starting to miss the way that they used to talk, laugh and work together in class. This only reminded her more of the revelation James had made earlier, which now looked as though it would underline the end of any relationship the two had or might have had in the future. The sad resentment flared in Jessie stronger than ever, and Jessie had to fight in order to force back tears.

Jessie suddenly realised that she was deeply hurt. All the break-ups that she had had with other guys in the past – who were actually her _boyfriend_ – all put together did not hurt as much as this did. This one little thing, this one little hiccup between her and James put a crack in Jessie's heart that could be matched by no other that any other boy had ever made. And she wasn't even going out with James! They had not even kissed!

Jessie continued with her fruitless attempt to absorb any information about genetics for the rest of the entire lesson. When the bell rang, she was still trying to grasp the paragraph that she had been reading and re-reading for almost an hour.

"Okay class, make sure not to leave without handing in your assignment," Mr. Livingston said, causing Jessie to snap her head up and look to the front of the room. "I'll remind you that an absence of this assignment will result in an undebatable fail."

Students began making their way to Mr. Livingston's desk to hand in their assignments, before disappearing out of the door to start their weekend. James had his and Jessie's assignment, and went up to hand it over to the Biology teacher. Jessie watched as the booklet passed from James' hands to Mr Livingston's. That assignment was the one thing that had brought Jessie and James into association. It had forced them to work together, and no one would be wrong in saying some sort of friendship had evolved from the partnership. But as the assignment was finally given away to Mr. Livingston for assessment, it seemed as though the friendship between Jessie and James had also been somehow taken away. There was now nothing left to keep it together.

James walked back over to his desk to collect his things. Jessie too was lifting her books and folders from her own desk. As the pair each finished their packing up, their eyes met in a solemn gaze. Somehow Jessie felt obliged to at least give James a civil farewell.

"It's been nice working with you," she said, relieved that she was able to speak without too much weakness in her voice.

James' expression fell at Jessie's words. The acknowledgement that this was the end could not have been put any clearer.

"Yeah..." He began, "I'll see you around." His voice seemed hopeful.

Jessie closed her eyes, hoping that James would not realise her efforts to hold back a flow of tears. She opened them again, her eyes glassy. "Goodbye, James," she said, pushing past James to join the rest of the class in their escape into the corridor.

As James stood alone in the classroom staring at the door and Jessie pressed her way through the crowded hallway, both felt almost the need to collapse under the weight of the sense of a last farewell.

* * *

Jessie slammed her bedroom door shut behind her. She had walked home that afternoon alone, her lovesick cousin out having a milkshake with Misty – something which only made Jessie feel worse. Delia was out at a Parent's and Friend's Association meeting at the school, so Jessie had let herself into the house, the welling tears causing her to fumble with the key in the lock before finally bursting inside.

Jessie now leant back against her bedroom door and slid down to the ground. She placed her face in her hands and finally let out the tears that had been kept at bay since lunchtime that day. For a while she simply sobbed, not thinking about anything except how much she hurt.

How could one guy make her hurt so much? Contrary to how she would normally feel, Jessie wished that James could see her right now, just so that he could understand how much he had hurt her. She wanted him to feel guilty, and painfully so.

Jessie lifted her head. She suddenly realised that it was not only James that this resentment was being directed towards. She resented herself also. After all, it was Jessie had let herself become so infatuated with James. He was a guy from a background of wealth, popularity and a stereotype of certain snobbishness and conceit. Shouldn't she have known that this was all doomed to end with heartbreak?

And how had she come to expect that anyone as wonderful as James seemed to be would return any affection for her? What on earth had made her lower her walls of defence, only to wait around for someone else to shatter her hopes of love?

How had he let herself get like this? How could she be so _stupid_?

A line of a song Jessie knew drifted into her head. It was a song by one of Jessie's favourite artists – Sarah McLachlan. Her eyes darted to the keyboard stationed against the wall to Jessie's right. Music... an expression of Jessie's soul – the one James had claimed to think was nice only a couple of nights earlier. Slowly, Jessie pushed herself up off of the ground and sat down at the keyboard. She switched it on, and deeply inhaled before leaning in to begin the intro of Sarah McLachlan's song, _Stupid_.

Though Jessie's eyes were full of tears, her hands did not falter on any key of the emotion-wrenching melody. And though those tears threatened to choke Jessie's voice, she did not falter on any note as she sang.

"_Everything changes, everything falls apart_

_I can't stand to see myself losing control_

_But deep in my senses I know_

_How stupid could I be?_

_A simpleton could see_

_That you're no good for me_

_But you're the only one I see..."_

__

* * *

* * *

__

Whew! It's been a while, but I've finally gotten out the eighth chapter of this fic! Woohoo!

Sorry about the delay, but I've been on school holidays! Now, normally I would be able to lounge around all holidays and dedicate a lot of time to continuing this fic, but I actually got to go on a trip with my family up to Queensland (nice, sunny, tropical part of Australia!). So I kind of haven't had a chance to write. But hopefully I'll be getting back into the swing of things!

Anyway, I hope everyone liked this chapter! Sorry about the extreme lack of Ash and Misty in this one, but they should be featuring a bit more in the next chapter. Also, I seem to have found myself including several of my favourite songs in this fanfic. I really didn't mean to do that at the start. I didn't even mean to include _Stupid _in this chapter, but I just had it playing while I was writing and I was like, "Wow! That song really fits in with this story!" So yeah, I decided to put it in. I don't know. If this type of song incorporation is dumb, annoying, or whatever, tell me.

On that note, please review! It will make me so happy! I love any sort of feedback!

Stay tuned – next time in _Evolution_ we've got the school dance, so there's sure to be a lot of excitement happening!!!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl.


	9. Chapter Nine

****

**::Evolution::**

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

Here is the ninth chapter of my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock – 15

Gary – 13

**::Evolution – Chapter9::**

"Thanks Jessie!" Mr. Tilbury cried from the front door of his antique shop. Jessie waved back at him as he pulled the door shut and began to fiddle with the security locks on the inside of the door. Jessie turned away and continued to walk along the footpath towards the bus stop at the end of the street.

Jessie neared the bus stop and sat down on the bench inside the little shelter. Like usual, there weren't any other people waiting to catch the bus from this stop. Gardenia Avenue was situated in a quiet little pocket of Spire City – the roads were still made of old cobblestone and all of the buildings in the street had an unmistakable rustic look to them. Most of them were small shops such as Mr. Tilbury's antique shop, but there were also a couple of little café's further back along the street. Jessie liked this place because she felt as if she'd almost stepped back in time.

However, the essence of another era could not cheer Jessie up today. She had tried to put on a happy front for the customers at work, but even Mr. Tilbury had sensed that something was wrong. She had managed to get over the terrible distraught and sadness that she had been stricken with the night before, but now simply seemed to be stuck in a very gloomy mood.

Jessie had been surprised to find that her beloved antique jewellery box was still sitting on the counter at the antique shop – she had expected the beautiful wooden box to have sold during the week. Of course she had endeavoured to let the magnificence of the object enrapture her like it normally did, yet not even the jewellery box could take her mind away from the ever-pressing subject of _James_.

The dance was tonight. Jessie had struggled to resist herself from yelling at Ash the night before – all he could talk about was how excited he was and how much fun it would be and how glad he was to have the girl of his dreams going to the dance with him. How did it turn out that Ash – Jessie's thirteen year-old younger cousin – managed to have everything worked out perfectly, while Jessie's love life was nothing short of a wreck? It wasn't fair, she thought.

Jessie thought about the dance. She had not been to Spire City High's most anticipated event for the past two years. It was strange that she had actually been excited – no, thrilled, about the prospect of going this year. It was a shame that James had not asked her to go with him also for the reason that this would be Jessie's last ever chance to attend the Spire City High Annual Dance, with this year being her final at high school.

"Why couldn't he just have asked me?" Jessie said to no one, a sudden gust of wind making the words barely audible even to herself. She closed her eyes and imagined twirling around on the dance floor with James, his strong arms fastened around her waist. Tears stung Jessie's eyes at the intense longing that she felt just to be in that moment.

Jessie contemplated for a second the idea of actually going to the dance. She looked down at the month's pay packet that she was holding in her hand. There was enough money in there to buy a new dress. She knew of a little garment shop back past Tilbury's Antiques that sold beautiful vintage dresses. And Jessie knew a certain person who was unlikely to have a date for the dance, yet would be more than willing to go with her...

Suddenly Jessie found her spirits rising. She could still go to the dance. She would go there and look ten times as beautiful as Cassidy, and make James regret ever asking that hag to go with him. Maybe she'd even get to dance with James. After all, there was no _rule _or anything that you could only dance with your date for the night. And it wasn't as if James and Cassidy were _going out_ or anything. It would give Jessie a chance to be distant with James, in order to let him know what she thought about him asking Cassidy to the dance, but at the same time subtly happy to share a dance or two with him.

Jessie stood up, filled with a surge of new hope and a rekindled sense of purpose. She turned to look back in the direction of Tilbury's Antiques and the vintage dress shop. Swiftly, she began walking in that direction before the bus came and she would undoubtedly change her mind.

* * *

Jessie opened the front door of her house, clutching the handles of a shopping bag. Carefully folded inside it was the dress she had picked out for the dance. It had cost Jessie nearly all of her pay packet, but it was a truly beautiful dress. She would have been crazy to leave it behind.

Closing the door, Jessie slowly walked into the open living room of the Ketchum house. Three pairs of eyes turned to look at her from the couch in the corner of the room.

"Hey Jess," said Ash. Brock and Misty, who were sitting on either side of him also greeted the crimson-haired girl.

"Hey guys," Jessie replied, walking over to sit at an armchair situated on an angle by the couch. A smile lit her face at the convenience of a certain person being there. "Brock?"

The elder of the two boys looked up. "Yeah?"

"You don't have a date for the dance, do you?"

Brock's face seemed to turn a little red. "Uh, well... you see, I _did _have a date, but she... uh, had to go and..." his voice trailed off, knowing very well that Jessie was no stranger to his fruitless efforts in the area of girls. "No," he said, finally.

Jessie smiled. "Well, would you like to be my date?"

"...Are you serious?" Brock's eyes widened. A puzzled look appeared on Ash's face.

"Sure. I only decided to go to the dance today, and I don't know anyone else who would be available at such short notice. No offence, or anything," Jessie added.

Brock raised his palms to face Jessie. "None taken! I'd love to be your date. Thanks, Jess!"

"Wait a sec, last night you were acting as though you'd rather spend the rest of your life locked in a small cage with an angry Beedrill than go to the dance. Why do you want to go now?" Ash asked, genuinely puzzled.

Jessie leant back in the armchair and flipped her legs up to rest on the coffee table that stood before the chair and couch. "I don't know. Just a change in heart, I guess. Plus, I found this really gorgeous dress in a shop near Tilbury's," she said in an offhand manner, indicating the shopping bag resting beside her armchair. She was feeling more and more confident about her decision to go to the dance now.

Jessie looked to the brightly lit television screen in front of the coffee table and couch. "What are we watching?" She asked.

"We don't quite know," said Ash, "Misty was going to her friend's house just over on Gipani Street to get ready for the dance, but her friend is sick so Misty decided to stop in here for a while before going back home to get ready. We kind of just turned the TV on and started watching this movie, but it's kinda confusing."

Jessie nodded. She had wondered why there was a backpack near Misty's feet. She must have been carrying all her clothes and makeup and things in it. "Bummer," Jessie said to Misty.

"I know. But hey, at least I'm not the sick one and still get to go to the dance," Misty replied, and slightly blushed at the realisation that she had just voiced her eagerness to go to the event that just so happened to be accompanied by the fact that Ash was taking her to it.

As Ash turned to the orange-haired girl and smiled, Jessie too could not help herself from smiling at the way that Misty and Ash acted around each other. It was a prime example of young, innocent love. "Why don't you just stay here and get ready, Misty? Now that I'm going, we can get ready together," Jessie said. What the hell. Misty seemed a nice enough girl, and it'd be much more fun getting ready with someone else than alone.

Misty's eyes lit up. "Really? That'd be really great, thankyou!" Ash too, looked delighted at the notion that Misty would be staying at his house until the very moment they left for the dance. And then of course he had her for the rest of the night.

The four teenagers settled back into their seats and again tried to comprehend what was happening on the television screen before them. Brock was still beaming at the idea that he was actually going to have a date for the school dance – and not just any date, but a beautiful, _older_ woman. Ash and Misty too, were smiling, now and again glancing at each other and breaking out in a blush every time they happened to catch each other's eye.

Jessie watched the younger children with silent envy. Sure, Jessie was confident with her decision to go to the dance. But whether she was confident that the dance would actually turn out well for her was a different story...

* * *

Jessie waited on the steps of the Spire City Community Function Room that the high school had hired for the night, shivering in the night cold. The line for entry was quickly moving inside, but not fast enough that Jessie wasn't totally freezing her butt off. Brock, who had his arm linked in Jessie's, looked to her and laughed. He looked nice and warm in his suit.

In front of Brock and Jessie, Ash, Misty and Vanessa were also waiting in line. Jessie had rung Vanessa that afternoon to see if she wanted to get ready with her and Misty, and Jessie's black-haired friend had happily agreed. Like Jessie, Misty and Vanessa were shivering in their dresses.

Hey – they might be freezing now, but inside they'll be warm _and _looking hot. Jessie just hoped that they'd get inside soon otherwise it'd be taking her all night just to thaw out.

She looked around at the girls that were visible from her position in the line, examining their dresses before looking down at her own. Jessie had to admit, hers was the nicest she had seen so far. Even Misty and Vanessa had gasped in awe when Jessie had first put it on, saying that it was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.

The dress was pale pink in colour – which surprisingly suited Jessie very well. It had only one shoulder strap that was made out of a tightly woven shiny cotton that formed the image of roses slowly cascading down from her shoulder, across the breast and subtly petering out on the opposite side. The roses were flat as part of the dress – not like some of the other gigantic flowers that Jessie had spied on some other dresses, which cringingly protruded like some sort of ugly growth. The rest of Jessie's dress was a slightly paler pink than the cotton, and was made of a very light, sheer material that clung to her waist and hips in order to show off her figure, but then gracefully fell in different sections to just below her knees.

Needless to say, Jessie _felt_ like a princess. She didn't need anyone to tell her she _looked_ like one. She also had a nice pair of simple, finely strapped pink heels, and wore her hair out. It flowed in wisps a little way below her shoulder blades, with a few loose curls in the ends.

Finally, Brock and Jessie had gotten to the door of the function room, and they paid for their tickets before entering with Ash, Misty and Vanessa. The last time Jessie had been to the Spire City Community Function Room was the last time she had been to the school dance, so Jessie had almost forgotten just how magnificent it was. The room was circular, with the floor made of pure marble. Several giant marble pillars were situated at different points along the outside of the room, which stretched right up to the high ceiling. The ceiling itself was a giant glass dome, displaying a direct view of the starry night sky. The walls were spotted every now and again with big glass doors, out of which were marble balconies.

Many people were already at the dance, swaying away to a slow song that was currently playing. Of course, some people were merely standing at the edge, either talking or just waiting for that special someone to ask them for a dance...

A song with a faster beat suddenly began, and Brock turned to Jessie. "Ready for some groovin'?"

Jessie laughed, wondering how he didn't understand why he never had wonderful luck with the female kind. "Sure," she said, pulling Vanessa along with her onto the dance floor as well. Vanessa's date was supposed to be meeting her there, but had not shown up yet.

As the three began dancing, Jessie subtly glanced around the room, trying to spot James. Her heart sank when she couldn't find him – what was the point of coming if he didn't even see her? It was quite a large room, and there were _a_ _lot_ of people in there. It never occurred to Jessie the possibility that she might not even see James that night. Of course she could always _try_ and find him, but that seemed a little too desperate for Jessie.

Half an hour passed. Vanessa's quite handsome date had arrived, and whisked her off to dance with him. Jessie was still dancing with Brock. Fortunately no slow songs had been played in the time that they had been dancing – Jessie was fine dancing next to him, but slow-dancing with her younger cousin's best friend? She'd already planned a convenient toilet-break if that situation should arise.

Jessie noticed Brock fleetingly glance over Jessie's shoulder several times, a sheepish grin plastered across his face. She looked behind her to see a young girl with peach-coloured hair tied in two loops on either side of her head grinning equally as sheepishly back at Brock. Jessie looked back at the tanned boy, smiled and looked down in defeat.

"Go, Brock," she said, surprising the younger boy.

He looked puzzled. "Are... are you sure? Who will you dance with?" He said, trying to be considerate but not able to hide an eager smile at this opportunity.

Jessie pushed him in the direction of the peach-haired girl, laughing. "Just go!"

Jessie watched as Brock and the girl conversed, both with severe blushes on their face, before Brock led her to the dance floor. Brock quickly looked back at Jessie, mouthed a 'thankyou', and the pair disappeared into the dancing crowd. Sighing, Jessie slowly pushed her way to the edge of the room. How could it be... even Brock's love life was going better than hers!

Jessie stood by one of the marble pillars, trying to act as though she wasn't just another lost soul waiting for that dreamy look, that extended hand, that one desired question... _May I have this dance?_

Because in essence, Jessie _was_ just another one of those people.

She felt stupid. Here she was, standing alone, rejected by a fifteen-year-old, and hopelessly waiting for a dance with someone that probably doesn't even acknowledge her existence anymore. Jessie listened as a song ended, quickly to be replaced with a much slower one. She watched as the couples on the dance floor moved together to embrace, before beginning the gentle sway of a slow-dance.

Jessie smiled aimlessly as if she were having fun just standing back and watching everyone else dance together. That way she hoped she didn't look _totally _pathetic. Maybe in part, but not totally. Vanessa and her partner swayed past, and Jessie grinned and waved to her obviously elated best friend. Jessie had never met Vanessa's date, but apparently he worked at the same supermarket that Vanessa did. Brock and his new lady friend also danced past Jessie, and she again did her best attempt to act as though she were happy to stand back and watch her friends have a good time. Jessie realised that she hadn't seen Ash or Misty since arriving at the dance, and wondered what the pair were up to. Suddenly, and with a sense of shock, Jessie thought that perhaps she'd be better off _not_ trying to work out what they were doing.

Minutes passed, and still Jessie was standing against the pillar by herself. She looked around, trying to decide whether she should go over to the refreshments table and get herself a drink to make it look as though she were doing something. Deciding for it, Jessie pushed off against the pillar to head towards the refreshment table. All of a sudden a bright blue dress caught Jessie's eye, and she turned to look back at the dance floor. The dress itself was not so stunning, but the colour of it was so amazingly vivid that one could not help but stare at it. And of course, as Jessie's eyes travelled up the curves of the dress, it did not belong to anyone else but Cassidy Fleckman.

As Cassidy turned in the motion of the slow-dance, her partner came into view. James had one of his arms around Cassidy's waist, while his other hand held one of hers out beside them in a traditional dance-position. Jessie could not help but marvel at how breathtakingly handsome he looked in a tuxedo.

Jessie and James' eyes met at the exact same time, and Jessie watched as James' face morphed into an expression of astonishment at the registering of her presence at the dance. Jessie did not know whether to smile, frown or look away altogether. A neutral look remained on her face, while her eyes stayed connected with James'.

Cassidy looked up to see James staring at something over her shoulder. She turned her head to see Jessie, and a scorn appeared on the blonde girl's face. Jessie watched as Cassidy directed the dancing pair swiftly out of view.

He had seen her. Jessie felt her body relax a little. At least he had seen her. He knew that she was there. She could leave things up to him now. It would have to be James' decision as to whether he talked to her, or if he asked her for a dance. For Jessie, it was now just a matter of waiting.

Jessie looked awkwardly around herself, and remembered her plan to make her way over to the refreshment table.

* * *

* * *

Okay... I had originally planned to write all the events of the school dance in one chapter, but I really think it's just going to be waaaaaaaaay too long if I continue to write it all as one. So... yeah. That's why I'm stopping here. Hopefully this is still enough to keep your hunger at bay for a little while until I can get the tenth (wow!) chapter finished! Just keep in mind that the next chapter will go straight on from this one – there will be no period of time between the first sentence of the next chapter and the last one of this.

Anyway... I haven't really got much else to say except a giant THANKYOU to everyone who has been reviewing this story. I'm really starting to get a few now – this has been my most popular story yet!

So please, don't stop here – review now! It means so much to me!

It shouldn't be too long before I finish the next chapter. Until then, I'll keep you guessing as to how the rest of the Spire City High Annual Dance will unfold!!!

Ciao!

BansheeGirl.


	10. Chapter Ten

**::Evolution::**

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

Here is the tenth chapter of my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock – 15

Gary – 13

**::Evolution – Chapter10::**

Slowly Jessie walked over to the refreshments table. To her surprise there were actually hired caterers standing behind the long trestle bench, making and pouring drinks for people. As far as she could remember, everything was self-serve at the last dance she had attended. It looked as though the function committee had decided to step things up a notch.

Jessie asked politely for an orange juice and was handed a tall glass filled with the orange liquid, ice included. She swished the ice around in the glass while slowly wandering over to sit on one of several chairs against the side wall.

Forty minutes later, Jessie was still sitting in the same chair. A year-seven with glasses, buck teeth and red, frizzy hair had been sitting beside her for thirty-nine of those forty minutes. Every now and again the girl would start coughing loudly, making noises only a Meowth should make when coughing up fur balls. Jessie shuddered with disgust each time, and just hoped to God that the girl would not try to strike up a conversation.

A couple of times Jessie had seen James and Cassidy dance past, though she was unsure as to whether James had seen her. She looked at the big clock above the main entrance of the function room, sighing angrily. How long was she supposed to wait? Was she just supposed to sit around all night? Jessie began to think that perhaps coming to the dance was not such a good idea. How stupid was she for thinking that James was just going to ditch his date to come and sweep Jessie off of her feet? He had made his decision, and she was not it.

Abruptly, Jessie stood up from her seat. The buck-toothed girl looked up at Jessie in puzzlement, as if she expected Jessie to stay there with her all night. Indeed, Jessie had thought that she _would_ stay there all night, but sense had decided to get the better of her. There was no point waiting around for someone who would never come, after all.

Jessie walked briskly around the dancing crowd towards the main doors leading out onto the street. The weightless material of the bottom of her dress flowed behind her with the speed in which she was exerting just to make it outside. She had to get out. One more second alone at the dance and-

A hand suddenly enclosed around Jessie's right wrist. She almost fell backwards as a result of the momentum with which she had been moving. Slowly she looked up at the owner of the hand.

"Jessie...," came the voice of James. He looked down into her eyes longingly, and Jessie felt her eyes growing hot with tears.

First they had been fighting. Then they became friends. Then he had almost kissed her. Then he asked someone else to the dance. They had said goodbye. Jessie had been heartbroken. Then she had decided to show him what he was missing out on. But, he had not come to her. Then she had decided to give up. And now he _had_ come to her? Jessie didn't know whether she could take much more. Of course she had wanted James to come to her, but how much more did she have to go through?

James remained with his hold on Jessie's wrist. "I... thought you said that you wouldn't come."

Jessie blinked the tears away. She tried to speak without her voice breaking, "...One of Ash's older friends needed a date, so I decided to do a bit of charity work and bring him...," she said, only bending the truth a little.

James looked disappointed. "Oh... I didn't realise you had a... uh, where is he?"

Jessie's eyes darted to the ground, and when she looked back up she had formed an ironic smile. "He found someone more his age... you know," she said in a very quiet tone. It wasn't that she was embarrassed about Brock ditching her, but for some reason a sudden feeling of weakness or tiredness had come over Jessie. It seemed that the stress of the past two weeks was finally catching up on her.

The pair were silent for a second. James moved his grip on Jessie's wrist down to hold her hand. "Will you dance with me?"

Jessie felt almost ready to cry again. This was what she had wanted... so now why did she feel so lost? Suddenly she felt too confused to even answer James' question. "... Where's Cassidy?" Jessie queried, James' blonde-haired date only now coming back into mind.

James looked behind him, as if to look for Cassidy. "She said she needed to go to the restroom and then she was going to go outside for a little bit to get some fresh air."

Jessie looked down at her hand that James was holding. His hand was nice and warm. She peered up at James with uncertainty.

"Please," he said.

Jessie closed her eyes and nodded. "Okay."

James smiled and, still holding Jessie's hand, led her out onto the dance floor.

* * *

Holding her hand, Ash led Misty out a pair of big glass doors onto a large marble balcony. Together, they walked over to lean against the edge.

"Misty, this past week has been really fun, right?" Ash looked into Misty's eyes, signalling the genuineness of the question.

She looked at him and laughed. "Of course it has, Ash!"

Ash laughed nervously. "Good... that's good. Well then, I... I was just wondering if maybe..."

Misty's eyes widened with expectancy. "Yes? What is it?"

"Would you like to... you know, be... boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Misty's eyes remained wide, while the smile on her face grew larger and larger. "Oh Ash! Do you really mean it?"

"Yeah!" Ash cried, a little too enthusiastically. He blushed a little, and tried to calm himself down, "I mean, yeah... of course I mean it."

Misty giggled and jumped forward to hug Ash. "Well, in that case – of course I'll be your girlfriend, Ash."

Ash's eyes now widened with the shock of her reply. After gaining his senses, he quickly returned the hug, beaming with delight. Could his life get any better?

"Ash?" Misty said, pulling away from her new boyfriend to look him in the eye.

"Mm?"

Misty didn't reply, but simply closed her eyes and pressed her lips to Ash's. A surprised Ash took a moment to register what was happening, before finally closing his eyes and too melting into the kiss.

Somehow his life just got better.

* * *

James stopped leading Jessie once they had arrived at an uncrowded space on the dance floor. The pair remained stationary as the last notes of a song faded out. Jessie strained her ears to catch the first notes of the next song – the song which would forever accompany her first dance with James.

A couple of notes from a stringed instrument played before a strong piano introduction identified a song both Jessie and James knew well. They looked to each other with shock – it was R.E.M.'s _Nightswimming_ – the song that Jessie had played for James on the piano at his house the Monday night before.

Almost awkwardly the two teenagers moved closer. James moved one arm around Jessie's waist, and held the other hand up in the same stance Jessie had seen him dancing with Cassidy. Jessie lifted her free arm to rest around behind his neck. They began to sway, moving very slowly around from foot to foot.

"You look extremely beautiful tonight," James said quietly, pulling Jessie a little closer so that the side of their foreheads just touched.

Jessie felt herself blush immensely, and was glad that they were in a position where James could not really see her face. "Thankyou," she said in almost a whisper.

As the song continued, Jessie looked sideward to see that James was opening up the hand that was clasping her own. James too, had his head turned sideward, and watched as Jessie opened up her hand in response. Each pressed the palm-side of their hands together. Jessie kept her hand open, and moved it up along James' arm and along his shoulder to join her other arm around his neck. James moved his now free arm around to rest a little above his other one on her back. The pair moved closer.

Jessie closed her eyes, her head resting beside James'. She had had doubts about dancing with James before, but now they were all gone. There, in that embrace, everything seemed perfect. She felt James run one hand through the ends of her hair, and almost shivered at the sensation.

"Your hair is very beautiful when you wear it out," James murmured into her ear.

This time a shiver _was_ sent down Jessie's spine.

"Are you cold?" James asked, lifting his hand to rub at the goosebumps that had formed on Jessie's shoulder.

Jessie smiled. She wasn't cold, but if that was what James was going to do if she was...

"A little bit," she whispered.

James pulled her closer, and as they danced he slowly moved his hands up and down Jessie's back in an effort to keep her warm.

Jessie never wanted it to happen, but the song eventually drew its close. The final piano and stringed instruments' notes faded, and with hesitation the two pulled apart. An awkward moment followed.

"Would you... like a drink?" James asked, and Jessie nodded. He disappeared in the direction of the refreshments table, while Jessie remained on the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to imagine that she was still in James' arms. Hopefully when he got back he'd ask her for just_ one more_ _dance_...

Suddenly, a scornful voice hissed in Jessie's ear, "I should have known not to leave James alone when the likes of _you_ were in the vicinity."

Jessie spun around to come face to face with Cassidy. She sighed with contempt and rolled her eyes. "Get a life, Cassidy," she said, and turned to walk away.

"I don't think so, _Jess_," sneered Cassidy, mocking the casual way in which they once spoke with each other. Cassidy reached out and grabbed Jessie's arm, spinning her back around. Jessie automatically pulled away, her eyes widening at the red fingernail marks that now marred her arm.

"What the hell do you want with me?" Jessie scowled, now narrowing her eyes.

Cassidy smirked. "You know, I tried to tell James about your kind. I tried to tell him it was a bad idea getting involved with you. But I guess it's a fault of all men that they just can't seem to resist _sluts_."

Jessie's eyes narrowed even more. "I guess that must be why he hangs around with you so much, _Cass_," she retorted.

Cassidy laughed mockingly. A group of girls standing behind her also broke into a fit of scornful laughter, who Jessie guessed to be Cassidy's 'friends'. "Say whatever you want, Jessie, but at least I'm not the one stealing people's dates."

Jessie tried to calm herself down, but to no avail. Cassidy Fleckman was just one of those people who the mere sight of made her blood boil. "James can dance with whoever he wants – there's no rule saying that he has to stay with the one, boring person all night."

Jessie noticed that the people around her and Cassidy had stopped dancing, and were staring at the feuding two. It seemed like any old catfight would draw a crowd these days.

Both girls, however, were oblivious to the fact that James too was part of the onlooking crowd. Holding two glasses of orange juice, he tried to push through to see what the girls were fighting about. He knew that he should stop them, but maybe this would tell him just why they hated each other so much...

"Give it up Jessie," Cassidy began, "even you must know that you're nothing but a washed up tramp. People like you always end up that way..."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Jessie spat angrily.

Cassidy laughed, looking around at the people surrounding the pair as if the answer was simply common knowledge. "Come on, Jessie. You know... _accidents_. Or more to the point, _bastards_..." A devilish grin played on the blonde-haired girl's face.

The creases on Jessie's forehead caused by her intense glare disappeared. She was half-stunned that Cassidy had dared to bring this subject up at an event as public as the school dance. "Shut up, Cassidy," she warned, though not convincingly. It was hard for Jessie to keep a strong front whenever this topic was brought up. Especially when it was brought up in such an attacking way.

"I mean, how old was you mother when she got knocked up? Eighteen? Now that's a tramp if there ever was one. Like mother, like daughter, huh? Well done Jessie, way to go. You should be so proud of yourself," Cassidy sneered. She knew she had the upper hand.

Tears began to form in Jessie's eyes, and she knew that if she spoke then they'd all come pouring out.

"Awww, is Jessie going to cry? Do you want your mummy?" Cassidy placed her hand to her mouth in mock-error. "Oops! Silly me! Your mother's dead, isn't she? Probably crashed the car herself just so she could get away from you. Guess you'll just have to settle for you father then. But hang on... he didn't want anything to do with you, did he? Oh no... poor baby. Who are you going to turn to now?"

Jessie stared back at Cassidy, almost blinded by tears. All she could seem to make out was the cold blue of her dress emanating against the rest of the crowd. How could _anyone_ be so horrid? She could feel the stares of everyone around her, all now privy to her most well-kept and tender secret. Jessie felt sick. She needed to get out. She pushed past Cassidy and through the crowd, tears already streaming down her face. She headed for one of the glass doors and burst outside, while the cackles of Cassidy and her crew continued inside.

Back at the scene of the fight, James had finally pushed his way through to the front of the crowd, only to see Jessie flee. He knew most of what Cassidy had said anyway, so the news was no surprise to him as it was to most of the crowd. What surprised him was the fact that Cassidy had been so brutal and offhand about the matter. He had never seen her act like that before.

He looked at Cassidy, and she returned an expression of astonishment to see him there.

"_Cassidy..._" he said, conveying a more disappointed tone than a shocked or angry one.

With that, James pushed through the crowd and ran in the direction Jessie had disappeared. He escaped out onto a marble balcony to see her running down a set of steps to ground level, and he leapt after her.

"Jessie!" He yelled, trying to stop her.

"Leave me alone!" She cried, now running across the paved ground of an open garden which surrounded the function room. James could hear her sobbing.

"Jessie, stop!" He shouted again, catching up to her and grabbing a hold of her wrist. Jessie tried to pull away, but James held with his firm grip. She continued to flail about, still crying, until James pulled her in towards him and pressed her against his chest. "Shhh," he soothed, trying to calm her down, "It's okay Jess. I'm here for you. Everything's okay."

Jessie continued to sob, but stopped trying to break away from James. She clutched at his jacket, crying onto his shoulder. Gently, James led her over to a stone bench by a row of rosebushes and sat her down on it. He sat down beside his crying friend, and wrapped his arms around her. Brushing a few stray locks of hair out of Jessie's face, James continually repeated soothing words to calm her.

"James, I hate her so much," Jessie said quickly, amidst sobs.

"Shhh," he eased, holding her face in his hand and wiping the tears away with his thumb.

Ten or so minutes passed in silence, and Jessie managed to reduce her crying to only the occasionally sob. She buried her head in the crook of James' neck.

A gust of wind blew through the garden, and James rubbed one of Jessie's arms. "Jess, I know you're hurt. Cassidy was pretty awful in there..."

Jessie looked up at him. "Pretty awful! She was a downright bitch and there's nothing else to it. I hate her. I hate her, I hate her, I hate her."

James looked down at the girl in his arms. "You have to understand that Cassidy just has a few mood swings now and again. You know, she's under a lot of pressure from her parents just like me. She has to meet a lot of expectations as well. Sometimes it must just all get to her, you know?"

Jessie pulled away from James, not believing what she was hearing. "What?" She said accusingly. "I cannot believe you are still defending her!"

James looked at Jessie in puzzlement. "Jess, I'm being realistic. She's really not as terrible as you make her out to be," he said, knowingly.

Jessie stood up from the bench, her eyes widening. "James, you saw what she was saying to me in there. No one, and I mean no one _ever_ has the right to do that to _anyone_! What she said was sick and disgusting!" With that, Jessie scowled and began to walk away.

"Jessie!" James cried, pushing himself up from the seat and walking over to pull Jessie back to him. This time as he grabbed her arm Jessie pulled away with as much violent force as she could muster.

"Don't touch me, James. You're just as bad as Cassidy and all the rest of them," she said, glaring angrily at him.

An astonished look appeared on James face. "Jessie, please," he tried to say in a calming tone, reaching forward to take Jessie in his arms.

"James! Don't you understand?! I don't want you to touch me, or even come near me. Just go away! We are _not_ friends. We stopped being Biology partners yesterday, and that was the only association that we _ever_ had, or ever will have. Goodbye – and this time I mean it for good."

Leaving no time for James to retort, Jessie spun around and walked away and out over the wet grass. She found it a slightly difficult process because her heels kept sinking into the soft ground, and a fresh lot of tears prevented her from being able to see very well. She made it out onto the footpath and headed in the direction of home, not caring to think about Ash and the others worrying about her. She did not turn back to see whether James was coming after her or if he was still standing there. She just kept walking blindly into the dark.

* * *

* * *

Whew! Sorry to leave on such an awful note, but oh, the trials of love, eh? At least that's the dance over and done with – and the tenth chapter! Yay (does victory dance)!!! It's been a long time coming, but I've finally hit double-numbers in chapters!!! There's not really much longer to go after this anyway – yes, _Evolution _eventually has to draw its close somewhere!

But of course we'll come to that in time. For now, I just wanna send out another thankyou to everyone who has reviewed this story! I'm starting to get several regular reviewers now – it's nice to have people coming back for more!

So, please review this chapter!!! This particular one I found very hard to write, so I'd really like to know what you think!

I hope to have the next chapter out soon!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**::Evolution::**

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda…

Here is the eleventh and final chapter of my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

- BansheeGirl.

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

Brock – 15

Gary – 13

Butch – 18

**::Evolution – Chapter11::**

James slowly walked out across the school grounds, hands shoved deep in his pockets and eyes lowered to the grass at his feet. Around him kids laughed and talked loudly, having fun in their friendly groups in the freedom of recess. In comparison, James' mood was far from joyous. It was Friday, and tomorrow would mark a week since the school dance the previous Saturday. It would mark a week of confusion and misery on behalf of the emotions experienced by the lavender-haired teenager, after apparently parting for the last time with his friend, Jessie.

Jessie had not spoken to him since the dance, and indeed he had not tried talking to her either. Despite both being in the same English and Biology classes, the pair had not even locked eyes since the incidents of Saturday night. As every day wore on James' fears heightened at the realisation that this undeniably was the end of anything between him and Jessie. Suddenly nothing else in his life seemed worth the while, without the prospect of seeing and talking to the sapphire-eyed girl every day.

It confused him that he could have feelings so strong for a person that he had barely known for three weeks.

What also had James confused was the change in perception he'd had of another of his female friends – Cassidy. For all his life James had thought her a close companion. She was someone who understood aspects of his family life, and who was there to have fun with when they were stuck at another dreary upper-class gathering. Yet the school dance had revealed another side to Cassidy, and Jessie had clearly underlined James' unwillingness to see the unattractive features of the blonde teenager's personality.

Over the past school week James had forced himself to look at Cassidy through the eyes of another. He had covertly watched how she acted around other people, and subtly questioned a few students on their thoughts and opinions of her.

Despairingly for James, his findings did not support the friendly, understanding image he initially had of Cassidy.

James felt despondent at the notion that the way he had perceived Cassidy for song long apparently was an illusion. He was reluctant to admit that the friendship between him and his fellow twelfth-grader was based on a lie. How could Cassidy have been able to fool him for so long? It couldn't be possible.

James continued to head out across the school grounds, toward the outer fence. His destination was a park bench that stood beside a tall elm tree, where James intended to sit and wait out recess in peace. Lately he had even felt distant from Cameron and his other friends, and mostly chose to sit and think alone at recess and lunchtimes.

To James' slight dismay there was already a person sitting on the park bench. He stopped walking, and awkwardly looked at the guy resting there. "Uh… sorry, I didn't think anyone would be here," James mumbled, turning to walk away.

"Hey," came a very gruff voice from the guy sitting on the bench, "you don't have to go. I'm sure we can both fit on here."

James considered the other guy's words, and turned back to sit on the park bench. He lowered himself onto the bench, and looked at the person next to him. The guy was quite thin, and had teal-coloured hair with two bangs that fell onto his face. "I'm Butch," came the gruff voice again.

"James."

"And what are you doing all the way out here, James?"

James looked down at the ground in front of him, and began to dig a hole in the dirt with the toe of his black leather school shoe. "Trying to find a place to think. And to get away. What about you?"

An uncanny smile appeared on Butch's face. "Pretty much the same. Plus, staying out here keeps me out of trouble."

James raised an eyebrow, but decided not to ask as to what sort of trouble this Butch character seemed to get himself into. James looked into the distance at the many students milling about near the school building. His eyes suddenly landed on his group of friends sitting together near the quadrangle. He watched as Cassidy's form animatedly conversed with Cameron and a couple of other guys.

Butch's eyes followed James' line of sight to land upon Cassidy, and he grumbled knowingly. "Don't tell me you're troubled over _her_," he said.

James turned to look at Butch, an unsure look on his face. "Well, she's part of it. You know her?"

Butch sighed hoarsely. "I did. I used to go out with her at the start of this year. Biggest mistake of my life. Thank God I finally woke up to my senses – she's nothing but a sneaky, selfish two-faced miltank if you ask me."

James' eyes widened. He didn't even know who this guy was, let alone know that he had been boyfriend to supposedly one of his close friends earlier in the year. And yet again here was another testimony to Cassidy's rather unpleasant personality.

"Seems everyone thinks that…" James started, "and I guess I'm beginning to see it myself. I don't want to, but I really can't deny that she's not a very nice person…" his voice trailed off.

Butch laughed in his husky voice. "That's putting it mildly. You, uh… her boyfriend?"

"No… just a close friend. Or I thought so, anyway. I just don't know how I could have been so blind to this side of her for so long…" James dug harder at the dirt with his shoe, becoming angry that his ignorance had caused him to lose something that over such a short time had become very important in his life.

Jessie.

Butch picked a twig up off the ground and began fiddling with it. "Hey, you're not the only one Jim."

James' eyes flickered from Butch and then back down to the ground at the referral to him as 'Jim'. Peculiarly, it was a reassuring identification for James. It signalled that the teal-haired teenager next to him was a refreshingly laidback and friendly type of guy. James eased from ploughing his shoe so violently into the ground.

Butch continued, "It was a while before I realised what a double-crosser she was. And I know for a fact there are plenty of others out there with Cassidy on their 'Dirty Stinking Traitor' list."

James sighed. "It's too late now, anyway. It's too late for me to realise who Cassidy really is, because the damage has already been done. There's nothing I can do anymore. Jessie's gone from my reach…" James acknowledged that Butch probably had no idea what he was talking about, but he didn't care. A feeling of utter hopelessness washed over him.

Surprisingly, Butch seemed to completely understand what James had vaguely hinted at. "Hey, Jim," he spoke in his gruff voice, and placed a hand on James' shoulder in order to attract the other boy's full attention. "Don't let Cassidy ruin everything for you. She's not worth any of it."

James turned his head to look Butch in the eye, indicating his receptivity.

"You have to fix whatever Cassidy has broken, just to show her that she's not the all-powerful manipulator she thinks she is. You have to show her that she's _not_ the boss around here. Do you want to let her think that she's won?"

James frowned. "I can't fix it… there's too much damage. It's impossible to repair."

Butch removed his hand from James' shoulder, and casually went back to fiddling with the twig he had found on the ground. James watched as Butch carefully picked small chips of bark off the slender piece of wood. "Do you want this Jessie girl?"

"… Of course I do."

"Then you've gotta stop thinking about the problem, and start thinking about the solution. There's no use worrying about the predicament you're in. Just focus on how you're going to get out of it. If you really want Jessie, you'll find a way."

James stared at Butch, astounded at the wisdom that this seemingly random, ordinary guy possessed. James could almost feel inside of him a sense of hope rekindling. Butch was right – Cassidy _wasn't _worth toiling over and Jessie was worth _too much_ to just discard as being completely lost forever.

Butch watched as James' eyes lit up. "You're right," James stated, confidence seeping back into his voice. He looked out over to the quadrangle to where his group of friends were sitting and narrowed his eyes at the form that was Cassidy. Abruptly he stood up, a plan already quickly forming in his mind. "Thanks, Butch. The help you've given me today… has been priceless."

Butch once again displayed an uncanny smile. "No problem, I'm glad to help out. Especially when it comes to taking down the likes of Cassidy Fleckman."

James returned the smile and turned to jog across the school grounds.

"Go show her, Jim! Do it for everyone who has been double-crossed by that scum!" Butch yelled loudly to James, and laughed huskily. Finally someone was going to put that blonde in her place.

* * *

Jessie gazed out the bus window, resting her forehead against the cool glass. Outside the sky was gloomily overcast – Jessie wondered perhaps if a storm might be in store for Spire City this Saturday afternoon. As the bus pulled to a stop outside the North Spire Mall, Jessie watched the multitude of people bustling about – it seemed not even the probability of a storm could disparage the eager shoppers. Jessie's stomach tightened as she saw a teenage boy and girl walk past hand in hand, and quickly blinked at the sensation of her eyes beginning to sting with tears.

As the bus pulled back onto the road to continue its route, Jessie silently chided herself for letting such a small and insignificant thing create such a reaction in her. All week she had felt to be in a whirlwind of emotions – one minute an indifferent, independent woman, the next a confused child unable to hold back a waterfall of tears. Suddenly Jessie felt herself on the verge of her child-like state, and hoped that she would be able to restrain her tears before the bus reached her stop. She felt additionally depressed today, having arrived at Tilbury's Antiques that morning for work to find that her beloved jewellery box had been bought. It seemed nothing was ever going to go right for her.

Jessie thought about the school dance, as she had done so many times in recent days. It was exactly a week since that dreadful night when Cassidy had taunted her in front of half the school, only to have James go on and justify Cassidy's actions by saying she simply "has a few mood swings now and again".

Jessie closed her eyes and let her mind drift back to the night of the dance. After she had yelled at James she began running home in the dark, tears terribly blinding her vision. Before long Ash, Brock and Misty had caught up with her, having heard about the incident Jessie had had with Cassidy. Unbeknown to the fight she'd had with James, they comforted and walked her home, thinking Jessie solely upset about what Cassidy had said. Jessie decided not to complicate things by revealing to them the true core of her lament.

Jessie could not deny that she was happy to have her younger cousin and his friends come to her consolation. She was entirely sick and tired of being left alone, and needed several shoulders to cry on in this time of need. Indeed when they all arrived home, Delia was quick with hot cocoa for everyone, and provided an extra shoulder and word of comfort for a distressed Jessie.

Yet with all the friendship that had surrounded and supported her, Jessie had climbed into bed that night nevertheless with a heavy heart. Ash and Misty could not hide their own infatuation with each other, making it clear to everyone that they were finally more than friends. Of course, this only made Jessie feel even more miserable. In the following days she struggled to cope with the events that had occurred, the things that had been said and the decisions that had been made that night. She dreaded having to attend school on Monday, as avoiding James proved to be a hard task considering that they shared the same English and Biology classes. However, Jessie managed to continually find seats relatively distant from James, and neither had spoken or even looked at each other. To any outsider, it would seem as if the pair didn't even know each other.

Wednesday marked the day in which Jessie and James' Biology class received results from their human evolution assignments. Jessie was utterly relieved that Mr. Livingston handed out results individually, and no awkwardness had to be encountered if the teacher alternatively gave marks out to Jessie and James together. They had gotten an A. Jessie had remembered the day when James came to see her at Tilbury's Antique's and told her that to get an A assignment, they needed to sort out their differences and work together. It had been the beginning of their friendship.

How quickly that all seemed to disappear.

The familiar sensation of fresh tears again threatened and Jessie blinked repeatedly, forcing the crimson-haired teenager out of her melancholic reminiscing. She gazed out of the bus window to see the shops of Spire City's central business district slowly wane to be replaced with the endless houses of suburbia.

Jessie hated the fact that she simply could not get James off her mind. She was supposed to hate him. She was supposed to forget him; completely erase his presence from all memory. Yet the more Jessie tried to forget about James, the more she thought about him. And the more she thought about him, the more she tended to consider the fact that perhaps she had made a mistake in being so harsh on James that night. Her insides knotted at the thought that she herself may have unnecessarily broken up what could have been the most beautiful relationship she could ever have.

The sapphire-eyed girl sighed, forming a small cloud of condensation on the bus window. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to block out any thoughts of James. She had to be strong. There was no going back; no changing the past. It was just a simple matter of acceptance.

Jessie sighed again. Acceptance – there was nothing simple about it.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Jessie stepped off the bus and began walking along Chrystia Avenue towards the Ketchum residence. She watched as leaves danced in a gust of wind along the road, and wrapped her arms around herself to shield from the sudden cold. It looked as though the storm front was arriving.

Reaching her house Jessie walked over the front lawn and began to ascend the stone steps leading to the front door. She extended her arm to open the door, but her eyes suddenly fell upon a package that lay nestled in the corner of the porch, which essentially was simply a slightly longer top step that forwarded into an alcove. Jessie found it unusual that no one had collected the parcel already – both her aunty Delia and Ash were at home. It must have only been recently delivered, she thought. Jessie bent down to pick it up, astounded to find that the parcel was addressed to her! There was no postal address – simply the single word _Jessie _printed on the front. Whoever the parcel was from had obviously been and left it themselves.

Jessie lifted her eyes from the parcel to look around. Curiosity getting the better of her, she eagerly sat herself down on the top step of the porch and began ripping through the brown paper of the package to find what was hidden inside.

Jessie gasped.

Lifting the paper away, now sitting on her lap was a deep mahogany jewellery box, trimmed with an intricate gold and encrusted with stunning sparkling diamonds. It was the jewellery box from Tilbury's.

Without warning, Jessie felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. She was so completely shocked by the contents of the parcel, all walls that she had constructed over the past week seemed to crumble away into nothingness. Who would have left this for her? Who would have _known_ to leave this for her? Who could _afford_ this beautiful yet extremely expensive gift?

Sniffing to hold back the tears, Jessie flipped open the lid of the jewellery box to have the little ballerina-girl in her white dress instantly spring up and begin twirling around to a tune all-familiar to the scarlet-haired girl. Yet in contrast to the regular emptiness of the jewellery box, it had now been filled with many little things which Jessie carefully began perusing through.

First Jessie lifted out a CD case that was slightly slimmer than an average album. Flipping it around to look at the front, she found it to be a CD single. It was Evanescence's _My Immortal_ – the song that James had walked in to hear Jessie not only playing on her keyboard but singing as well. Jessie remembered how vulnerable she had felt when she realised that James had heard her singing, yet how comfortable he had made her feel after a few meaningful words of reassurance.

Jessie next pulled out some folded pieces of paper. Carefully unfolding them, they were revealed to be the sheet music to R.E.M.'s _Nightswimming_ – not only the song that James requested she play on his grand piano one afternoon at his mansion, but also the song that had been playing when they had shared their first and only dance together the previous Saturday night.

A business card from Jessie's place of employment – Tilbury's Antique's – was the next item Jessie examined from the jewellery box. Jessie's mind drifted back to the day when James had travelled all across town just to come and see her while she worked at Tilbury's. He had wanted to sort out their differences so they could work as a team. He hadn't wanted things to be intense between them. Jessie had been impressed about the way he civilly confronted her like that.

Underneath the business card from Tilbury's were several more cards, of considerably larger size. Jessie lifted them out to discover them algebra flashcards – similar to the ones that James had used when helping her out with some Maths problems at her house one afternoon. Jessie had finally begun to understand some concepts about algebra, becoming so excited about this feat that the two had embraced and come very close to sharing a kiss.

Jessie wiped the palm of her hand across both eyes, attempting to rid some of the tears that were building up and hazing her vision. It was clear to her now the pattern that was carrying through these items, and in turn the person responsible for the gift. She continued to look through the remaining objects.

The ballerina continued to twirl as Jessie pulled out a napkin that had the 'Hutchy's Café' emblem inscribed across it. She smiled slightly at the memory of the peculiar response James had to her personalised concoction at Hutchy's. Next Jessie lifted up a keychain of a miniature globe of the world. Both she and James had talked about their dreams to travel the globe – James had even made the comment that perhaps they could be travel partners. Jessie had been unsure as to whether he was serious or not. A ticket to last Saturday's school dance also nestled in the jewellery box, signifying both good and bad memories for Jessie. The dance had seen her share an intimate dance with James and made her feel as if she simply belonged in his arms. Yet it had also seen the pair have an intense fight – from which the silence was still continuing.

Two pieces of paper were remaining in the jewellery box. Jessie unfolded one – it was the picture of the samurai girl that she had drawn for James while bored one English lesson. The second was James' result sheet from the pair's Biology assignment. A big 'A' had been drawn by Mr. Livingston at the top of the paper in thick red marker. Jessie looked down to read the teacher's personal comments:

'_Excellent work James. I can see a lot of effort was put into this assignment and this is reflected in you and your partner's impressively high mark. It seems you and Miss. Ketchum make a very good team. Well done.'_

As a single tear rolled down Jessie's cheek a figure appeared at the bottom of the steps. Jessie did not have to look up to identify who it was.

James ascended the stone steps and sat beside Jessie, not saying a word. Neither spoke nor looked at each other for a moment. A dull rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.

Jessie closed the lid of the jewellery box, and finally gazed sideward to look at James. James, however, continued to stare straight ahead.

"I was thinking," he began, still not meeting Jessie's eyes, "about the times we spent together. I almost had the feeling that we'd known each other for a lifetime. Looking back though… it's hardly even been three weeks."

Jessie struggled to hold back a wave of tears. She did not know what to do or how to react to this sudden appearance of James. She knew that she told him never to come near her again, but something compelled her to keep listening to what he had to say.

James continued, "I thought about the times we had together… and I was disappointed to find that all the memories that were formed during those times…" James moved his eyes to look at the jewellery box that sat in Jessie's lap, "all fit in that little box."

Jessie looked down at the jewellery box and also felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment. He was right. It had seemed that the times they spent together were worth a lot more than what could fit in that box. She lifted her eyes back up to see that James had finally turned to look at her. As they locked gazes, Jessie inwardly panicked – just looking into his eyes seemed to put her whole body into arrest. Her senses felt beyond control.

A look of distress appeared on James' face. "I don't want to stop at one little jewellery box. I want our memories to be endless – I don't want them to be able to fit into any sort of container, because they'll just keep going on and on. Jessie… ever since Saturday night I've felt like a part of my soul has been missing. I know it sounds corny, but it's the only way I can explain it."

Tears stung Jessie's eyes, and she knew that she would soon break down. She didn't know whether to say anything, or to simply let James continue talking. What exactly was he trying to tell her?

James paused and looked down, as if he too was trying to compose himself before continuing. "Jessie… I don't know how it happened over such a short period of time, but I can't keep on fooling myself into believing that it hasn't happened…

I have fallen head over heels in love with you."

Jessie raised her hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. She looked away from him, now letting her tears fall freely. She could see that James wanted to reach out and comfort her, but was restraining himself in case of another outburst similar to that of the previous Saturday night.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Jessie. You have to believe that that's the last thing I'd ever want to do," James spoke. Jessie remained speechless, as she had done since James' arrival. She sniffed, and used her sleeve to wipe the tears from her face.

"Please say something," James pleaded.

Jessie tried to search for something to say, but found herself unable to find any words. She looked down at the jewellery box in her lap. "James," she began, struggling to speak without bursting into tears, "this jewellery box cost five-hundred dollars."

James looked at the little wooden box, surprised by what she had first chosen to say to him. "…Well, I saw you eying it that day when I came to see you at work. When I was there last night your boss told me that you were quite devoted to it." The lavender-haired boy smiled modestly.

Jessie frowned. "James, five-hundred dollars is way too much. I can't accept it." She held the jewellery box out for James to take.

A hurt look emerged on James' features. He pushed it back to Jessie. "No, you deserve it. It's the least I can offer." Jessie's expression remained unconvinced. James resumed speaking, "Plus, you'll just get a really crappy Christmas present from me this year."

A small smile appeared on Jessie's face, surprising even herself. James seemed impressed with himself for being able to prompt this expression of slight happiness from Jessie.

Jessie slowly took the jewellery box back and placed it behind her on the step, before turning back to look at James. The smile had disappeared from her face. "What about Cassidy?" Her tone was noticeably solemn.

James looked down. "Cassidy…" he started, "Cassidy and I are no longer friends."

Jessie raised her eyebrows, genuinely surprised at this revelation.

"It seems you were right, Jessie. It just took me a little while to finally wake up to my senses and realise what kind of person she really is. Yesterday I told her that I no longer wanted to associate in any way with her, and that she was a sneaky, selfish, two-faced miltank." James smiled deviously.

"She didn't like it very much. Especially seeing as I told her in front of a lot of people, who, even though appeared to be her friends, ended up joining my side of the argument in the end. It looks as though there are several people who aren't all that fond of Cassidy Fleckman," James finished.

Jessie took a moment to absorb everything that had been said by James. He was not friends with Cassidy anymore. He had realised his own mistakes. Not to mention he'd bought her a jewellery box worth five-hundred dollars, filled with all manner of items dedicated towards the memories of their slightly complicated relationship. Suddenly Jessie realised that this was the most romantic and wonderful thing that anyone had ever done for her.

And he'd told her that he was in love with her!

Jessie again felt another onset of tears. This time, however, they were not tears of sadness, anger, hopelessness or confusion. They were tears of joy.

She looked up at James and smiled widely. James looked taken aback by this swift change in mood, and curiously poised to wait for her next action.

"James…" Jessie began, taking in a deep breath.

"Yes?" He asked. Not knowing what to expect, his heart beat rapidly in his chest.

"I have fallen head over heels in love with you too," she said, unconcerned with the tears rolling down her cheeks. She had said it. She had finally said it. All the confusion that Jessie had felt over the past few weeks drifted away. Her decision was crystal clear.

An expression somewhere between utter relief and tremendous happiness formed on James' face, and he laughed incredulously. Jessie too, could not help but laugh.

As the laughing subsided, the pair stared into each other's eyes – an intimate gaze that had been shared since the first day they had met. Finally, both leant in and united in a kiss that each had always longed for.

As they wrapped their arms around each other, a clap of thunder marked the beginning of a heavy downpour that soaked Jessie and James in a matter of seconds. Untroubled by the rain, the kiss only became more passionate.

The front door opened abruptly, revealing an unsurprised-looking Delia. Jessie and James were forced to pull apart.

"You kids had better come inside right now unless you want to catch a cold. Come on, I'm sure the couch will be much more comfortable than our front step."

Jessie and James smiled at each other, and, Jessie first collecting her beloved jewellery box, both followed Delia inside.

THE END.

* * *

OH MY GOD!!! I'VE FINISHED THIS FANFIC!!! I'VE REALLY FINISHED IT!!!

Well, it had to happen sometime! _Evolution_ is finally complete!

Firstly, I just need to send out a big SORRY to everyone who has been waiting for this chapter. I don't think that I've updated this fanfic in around two months, which I admit is pretty slack! I've just been really busy with end-of-year exams and all that sort of stuff. But I've finished year eleven now (go me!) so I got to work on this as soon as I could. Hope everyone's not too angry with me!

Well, I hope everyone liked the ending to _Evolution_! Hopefully everybody's satisfied with the final outcome (mmm… rocketshippy goodness)!!! Anyway, please let me know what you think and review this chapter!

A big thankyou needs to go out to all of my reviewers. This would not have been the story it is without the help and support of you guys! In particular I need to thank Tear22, Crazy4TR112, INVU4URAQT, Dawn and Sapphire Ookami for coming back more than once to check up on what's been going on at Spire City High! Also, I need to thank Drac-Frst for giving me the idea about including Butch in this chapter. Thanks!!!

I hope people continue to read, review and most importantly ENJOY this fanfic in the future! I'm not sure about any upcoming fanfics, but if I'm not writing, I'll still be lurking around somewhere on ! Hmm, that is a point to dwell on… what _am_ I going to write next? Hmm… any requests?

Anywho, I'll catch you guys later! May the Rocketshippiness be with you!

Till Next Time,

BansheeGirl.


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